Niederdorf/Villabassa (BZ), 5th July 2008 – The 35-year-old Olympic Champion Gunn-Rita Dahle won the UCI MTB Modarathon World Championships title. Dahle did the 88,6 km (3040 vertical drop) in 4 hours 9 minutes and 56 seconds, preceding the second ranked Sabine Spitz (Germany) of one minute and 44 seconds. Late of 3'39", the Finnish Pia Sundstedt ranked third. Fourth the Swiss Esther Süss. Best „Azzura“ was the sixth ranked Elena Gaddoni with a delay of 16'34 sec. in comparison to the winner. In total Gunn-Rita Dahle has won eight World Championships titles (4 Cross Country WCH and 4 Marathons).
photos http://www.dolomitisuperbike.com
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Results women:
Gunn-Rita Dahle: On the ascent to the “Rotwand” in Sexten/Sesto I was able to distance myself from my four contenders. Upwards onto the “Silvesteralm” my advance slightly decreased, however I was still able to get complete victory. Now I am going to go to Germany and from there I will fly directly to Canada where the next Cross Country World Cup takes place. From there the road leads directly to the Olympic Games in Peking. I did not expect this victory today. Mountain biking is my job and in any case I will keep on cycling until the Olympics 2012 in London.
Sabine Spitz: Unfortunately I did not test the course and this was surely a disadvantage. For this reason I had to lower my speed at the junctions and thus lost precious time. At the first ascent to the “Plätzwiese” there were still five of us. Unfortunately later I lost the alignment and so I rode alone for a long time. At the first Tech and Feed Zone Gunn-Rita Dahlen was already three minutes ahead. It was here in Niederdorf/Villabassa that I started with my real preparations for the Olympics.
Pia Sunstedt: The rhythm up to the “Rotwandhuette” was simply too fast for me. At the Kreuzbergpass/Passo Monte Croce I was two minutes behind Dahle. Shortly after that I gained on Sabine Spitz. Then we rode on together while Sabine took on the leading position. On the “Silvesteralm” we were still confident to be able to catch up with Gunn-Rita Dahlen. Unfortunately I was not able to do so and on top of that I had a flat tire on the back just 1.5 kilometres before the finish. Now I will make holidays at home in Finland. As our country does not have enough UCI points, for me Olympia is out of question.
