Saab Salomon Mountain-X Race 2008
Day 6 - The Final Countdown
Pyro / 26.07.2008
The day started badly for defending champions and current second-placers Saab Salomon. After much deliberation at last night’s briefing as to what routes were and weren’t allowable from the start, the British team fell foul of a judging decision that cost them the day. The race director had stated in the briefing that teams could use the roads until they were ‘out of town’, then they had to use the paths and tracks in the valley for the rest of the route, only specifying one section where using the tarmac was expressly forbidden.
As the first placed team, Quechua Compagnie des Alpes 1, left the chasing start, a debate was still raging between the race director and the Nike and Saab Salomon teams as to which route they could use. Leaving the start, Saab Salomon took a route which they believed had been fully agreed with the directors, yet after 20 minutes of running well and gaining time on their rivals, they were turned back from their route and sent back down the hill to join a small track which would bring them back up the same hill.
So early in the day, the mental and physical effect of this would lower their spirits, and they were forced to dig deep to muster the willpower to continue their push for the lead.
The Quechua team crossed the line first at 11:52, having taken under seven hours for the stage, half an hour at least ahead of the predicted fastest time. Fourth place Nike/ Beaver Creek were the next across the line just a minute behind them, closing the points gap between themselves and the Nike team who came in fifth.
Saab Salomon crossed the line at 12:11, knowing that their hard effort had not been enough to win them back the lead. “We have a lot of respect for Quechua� commented Tim Lloyd “Tom and Andy are both young racers, and they gave it everything. Here, you’re not just racing against any old team, you’re racing against some of the best in the world.�See All Event Posts
