Kiwis fail to make impact

WELLINGTON: A wet and slippery track brought about carnage, with most prerace favourites — including New Zealand champion Anton Cooper — unable to make an impact in the crosscountry at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Austria yesterday.

The Trek Factory rider from Christchurch had to be content with 41st place, 8min behind surprise winner Jordan Sarrou, of France, while Alpecin Fenix professional Sam Gaze (Cambridge) was 65th from the 90strong starters.

While the forecast heavy rain and potential snow held off at the mountain resort of Leogang, the track conditions remained muddy to challenge the field, with a number of prerace favourites including defending champion Nino Schurter and last week's world cup winner Henrique Avancini opting for heavy full suspension bikes.

However, Sarrou slipped off the front at the end of the opening full lap and was never headed, winning by 45sec, with three Frenchmen in the top five.

Shurter and the Avancini were ninth and 10th respectively, 2min 40sec behind. — RNZ