Montreal, 13 September 2009 (Sportcom) - Marie-Hélène Prémont had a slow start Sunday at the World Cup Mountain Bike Champéry, Switzerland, and eventually finished 11th behind Catharine Pendrel in 10th.
Austria's Elisabeth Osl won with a time of 1:39:39 sec, 54 seconds ahead of her nearest pursuer, the Polish racer Anna Szafraniec. The Norwegian Lene Byberg, the current points leader, concluded at +1:23 of the winner and was ranked third.
The gold medalist of the recent World Championships in Canberra, Russian Irina Kalentieva, did not finish the race, abandoning the race with a seriously injured knee after the third of five laps.
Premont was 5:05 behind the winner, Osl.
"I had a really bad start, truth be told," she confessed. "We rode almost two kilometers along a road with asphalt. The pace was super fast. Many girls had gone out in front, but there was no place for them there. They found themselves among the first at the technical descent just before the end of the start loop. Many fell and blocked the way for others."
"I made a good part of that descent on foot because I could not even ride," said Marie, "Meanwhile, the best managed to open a gap."
The native of Château-Richer, 25th after the start loop, rebounded to 16th place at the end of the second lap. She moved into 11th place in the third lap.
"I made up the most places possible. But when you're not on the top of the game, the game is different. I found myself on a long ride all alone with no one at the front or rear. It's a little harder to motivate yourself in that time."
Premont said she was a little bothered by her asthma at the start, racing at a frenzied pace, but everything was back to normal thereafter.
"In the downhill, I was able to recover and I did not have respiratory problems after that. I feel that my legs are there, but I need to get back in the groove to have better starts and play out front instead of spending all the time further back. "
Translated from Sportcom Press release.