Leogang WC2010

 

A good result up at Fort William (and showing a great improvement from 20th of last year’s results) now ranks Jess 13th in the World Cup Standings. “14th for me up at Fort William was a good result considering it’s not my sort of track! I was pretty stoked to take the fastest speed trap (60.240kph) out of all the girls and I was 10th fastest out of the elite men too! I was back in the gym after Fort Bill and worked hard ready for Leogang”. Leogang, Austria is a new venue on the World Cup Tour and there are talks that it will be in the list of events for the next 3 years. The UCI have just announced it will definitely be in the 2011 line up. Jess is hoping for a better result here “My aim for this weekend is a Top 10; I will be disappointed for sure with anything other than that.”

The top and bottom section is steep, rooty, technical and fast with the long middle section being hard packed, flatter compared to the rest of the track and full of jumps. After practice on Friday, Stone found it tough and very challenging, but started enjoyed riding the track especially after the torrential downpour at Lunchtime. Jess felt confident of a top 10, however, the track started to dry out, similar to Maribor race runs.

Qualifying

Come practice, Jess had a good solid first run down; the track was full of holes and ruts by this point but she was sure to keep going and keep it smooth. For qualifying, Jess’s first split put her 16th but just after, she came into a drop in the woods and rode it faster than she had hit it in practice and hit a large hole and crashed hard into a tree. She wasn’t able to continue her race and did not finish. The medics at the scene said she had probably broken her rib but likely to be bad bruising. “I’m so gutted not to be able to race but as I sit here with little birds and stars going round my head, I think it could have been much worse than it was and fortunately i’m going to be absolutely fine even though I’m quite sore for now! It looks like its just bad bruising and some very stiff and sore muscles so i’ll have to rest and man up! Just a shame I can’t get the result I wanted but it’s inevitable i’m going to crash at some point.”

 

Next up for Jess: NPS Round 3 - Llangollen