Elite women's downhill world championship podium: Sabrina Jonnier (France), Tracy Moseley (Great Britain), Emmeline Ragot (France)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Tracy Moseley (Great Britain) rides toward her first World Championship title(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Great Britain's Tracy Moseley raced to her first career elite downhill world championship on one of her favorite courses at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada last weekend. Her victory came after a trying World Cup season.
"There have been so many years of trying, and watching Steve Peat win last year, I thought, 'is it ever going to happen?'"
Her morale wasn't helped after what was her "worst World Cup season in the past four to five years". However, the 31-year-old couldn't help but notice that her riding was improving leading up to the Worlds.
"I've been riding better and better lately and at Windham, I didn't quite get the result I could at the finals. Mont-Sainte-Anne is one of my favorite courses, but you never know until you actually get to the race."
Moseley had adjusted her training over the off season. "I didn't want to get to the end of the season and just want it to end," she said. "I wasn't too concerned about my early poor start to the World Cup because I didn't train as hard earlier in the year."
But that also ment the pressure was on. "I knew I had to pull something out of the bank at Worlds to salvage a pretty good season. I tried to put all thoughts away before the run, especially as this season I hadn't been racing as well as I was practicing."
"My biggest goal was to put together my perfect race run. Last year, I felt like I rode as well as I could on this day. I didn't have that feeling most of this season. I wanted to be able to walk away and not feel like I could have done any better." Wearing the rainbow stripes, Moseley did just that.
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With three riders to go, she took over the hot seat with the fasest time. "Seeing their splits behind me made me want to think I'd done it, but I knew that it's racing and anything can happen. You have to just wait for the last person to come by. I didn't feel like I could celebrate until (2009 World Champion) Emmeline (Ragot) had crossed the line, and I knew it was real that I'd won."
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.
