Carefully planned strategy on tough course bodes well for next season
Tracy Moseley en route to victory in the women's downhill final. (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Tracy Moseley capped off her season on Sunday with a victory on one of the toughest downhill tracks in World Cup racing. The famous Schladming track in Austria dropped 750m over a distance of 2.2km and tested racers with steep rooty sections strewn with large holes and drops, as well as super high speed sections.
Moseley only qualified seventh in the elite women's downhill, but she tweaked her race day strategy by splitting the course into three sections in her mind and racing the top half solidly while keeping something in reserve for the final third of the course so as to not suffer from arm pump in sight of the finish line.
Many of her competitors went out too aggressively, including Frenchwoman and World Champion Emmeline Ragot, who had a fall that ultimately cost her second place in the overall rankings, a place that Moseley happily inherited with her win.
"Now that is a nice surprise! After qualifying, I went back to looking at how I needed to attack this course differently and it worked out," said Moseley. "My style of riding is steadier than most and that worked out well here."
The British rider is already looking forward to 2010. "I'm really stoked because next year the race courses are very similar to this one and it's nice to know I can win on this type of terrain. It's a great confidence boost to go into the off season with a win."
Moseley's win brought her Trek World Racing team's total to 12 podiums for the year. The team ended up ranked second in the downhill final World Cup standings.
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
