Livigno – 1/4 September 2005. It was the world championship of confirmations. At the Mountain Bike World Championships in Livigno the highly anticipated elite trials of cross country they reiterated last year's verdicts. After the victory among the Norwegian women dahlea, the men's event crowned the Frenchman for the second consecutive year Julian Absalon, winner of a very hard-fought race made selective by the heat and the altitude (we are at over 1.800 meters above sea level). Absalon initially followed the blue's initial offensive Marco Bui, then reacted to the Swiss' action Ralph Naf, until in the second of the three scheduled laps he found himself alone together with the other favorite of the day before, the Swiss Christopher Sauser World Cup winner. The solution to the race came after 1h20' of the race, when on a long stretch of single track Absalon gradually pulled away from his rival, passing the bell with an 11" lead which he then easily managed in the last part of the route. Sauser finished at 18", the Spaniard third at 54". José Hermida, already gold in the relay, which regulated the Swede Kessiakoff. The Italians had a lot of confidence in the possibilities of Marco Bui, who started very strong and remained with the strongest for a third of the race, only to be separated on the climb and fall back to 16th place, before a good final reaction which brought him to finish in 11th position: "I suffered a lot from the altitude: my leg was good but I couldn't get oxygen, so I let the leaders go knowing I couldn't keep up with their pace and recovering something at the end". The other Italians all finished above thirtieth place (Martino Fruet 30th).

Nothing to do against it Gunn-Rita Dahle. The thirty-two year old Norwegian won her third world title in Livigno cross country, second in a row, proving to be clearly superior to all its opponents. Dahle took off already after a quarter of an hour of the race, immediately separating her most reliable rival on the eve, the Canadian. Marie Helene Premont who had occasionally preceded her in the World Cup this year. The Canadian gradually faded away, also thanks to a fall on the first lap, leaving her off the podium. Dahle continued her race undisturbed, eventually gaining a two-minute advantage over the Pole Maja Wloszczowska, which in the last round contained the surprising return of the Swiss Petra Henzi, who at 36 years old reaps the greatest satisfaction of her career. The attention of Italian fans was all on Paola Piece. The multi-Olympian, who started at the back, was the author of a good recovery in the first part of the race until she reached the threshold of entering the top ten positions, then she started to suffer from cramps in her legs and ended up further back, 14th at 10 minutes exact from the winner: “I gave everything for the public who cheered me on along the way, from this point of view it was a beautiful race. With this World Cup I close with the national team and the cross country, I will continue to do some Marathons for the pleasure of racing on a mountain bike, without any expectations." Immediately behind her, just 9", the other blue Eve Lechner, blocked by a chain jump at the beginning of the second lap when she was twelfth and making a comeback.

EL-M
	Julien ABSALON	2h07'34 "
2	Christoph SAUSER	18"
3	Jose Antonio HERMIDA	54"
4	Fredrik Kessiakoff	1'32"
5	Thomas Frischknecht	4'15"
6	Manuel Fumic	4'17"
7	Hector Leonardo Paez	4'29"
8	Silvio Bundi	4'47"
9	Oliver Beckingsale	5'08"
10	Carlos Coloma	5'18"
11	Marco Bui	6'18"
12	Lado Fumic	6'19"
13	Kashi Leuchs	6'31"
14	Geoff Kabush	6'39"
15	Baltz Weber	6'42"
16	Liam Killeen	7'00"
17	Cedric Ravanel	7'43"
18	Roel Paulissen	7'46"
19	Seamus McGrath	8'11"
20	Miguel Martinez	8'23"
21	Adam Craig	8'46"
22	Bart Brentjens	9'02"
23	Alejandro De La Pena	9'04"
24	Peter Riis Andersen	9'09"
25	Christoph Soukup	9'13"
26	Bas Peters	9'41"
27	Martin Gjan	9'56"
28	Mathieu Toulouse	10'09"
29	Mortiz Milatz	10'10"
30	Martin Fruet	10'33"

EL W
	Gunn Rita DAHLE FLESJA	1h47'19 "
2	Maja WLOSZCZWOSKA	2'09"
3	Petra HENZI	3'07"
4	Marie-Helene Premont	4'14"
5	Sabine Spitz	5'27"
6	Alison Sydor	5'49"
7	Mary McConneloug	6'14"
8	Severine Hansen	7'01"
9	Irina Kalentieva	7'25"
10	Anna Enocsson	7'36"
11	Adelheid Morath	9'27"
12	Shonny Vanlandingham	9'36"
13	Blaza Klemencic	9'46"
14	Paola Piece	10'00"
15	Eve Lechner	10'09"
16	Rosara Joseph	10'31"
17	Ana Szafraniec	10'39"
18	Cecile Rode Ravanel	11'56"
19	Katrin Leumann	12'15"
20	Lene Byberg	12'20"

U23 M
	Yuri TROFIMOV	2h17'30 "
2	Lukas FLUCKIGER	1"
3	Nino SCHURTER	1'55"
4	Jakob Fuglsang	2'41"
5	Philip Spencer	3'09"
6	Rudy Van Houts	3'10"
7	Benjamin Rudiger	3'28"
8	Daniel McConnell	4'35"
9	Tony longo	4'49"
10	Gion Manetsch	5'48"

JUN M
	Robert GEHBAUER	1h38'45 "
2	Olivier SARRAZIN	3'11"
3	Tim WIJNANTS	3'15"
4	Martin Fanger	3'40"
5	Alejandro Dario Gasco	4'03"
6	Patrick Gallati	4'32"
7	Christian Cominelli	4'53"
8	Neal Kindree	4'56"
9	Vivien Legastelois	5'23"
10	Fabian Giger	6'33"

JUN W
	Tereza HURIKOVA	1h13'14 "
2	Hanna KLEIN	1'03"
3	Tanya ZAKELJ	2'18"
4	Marianne Vos	3'06"
5	Nadja Roschi	3'28"
6	Julie Krasniak	3'53"
7	Alexandra Engen	4'27"
8	Liliya Zaytseva	5'12"
9	Chloe Forsman	6'21"
10	Nataliya Krompets	7'28"

PICTURES

BUY PHOTOS -> www.gettyimages.it

VIDEO