Valence, Chabot and Eiter victorious once more

Alexandre Chabot and Angela Eiter win the seventh stage of the World Cup Difficulty in Valence

November 2003

Valence, Difficulty World Cup. Climbing and champagne! After his hiccough in Prague, Alexandre Chabot set the record straight to win the seventh stage of the World Cup in style, topping out on all three routes and producing the only top in the Final. Ramon Julien Puigblanque followed hot on his heels, equalling the Frenchman's performance up until the final, only to be beaten by the unpredictable Ovtchinnikov.

The women's event proved intense too, with a tie-breaker Super Final needed to separate Angela Eiter from Muriel Sarkany. And although the young Austrian got the better of the reigning champion, Sarkany's response was clear for all to see: she's here and still a force to be reckoned with. Showing no signs of letting up, Sarkany's second place sends her comfortably close to overall victory in 2003, 124 points ahead of Sandrine Levet, who placed third here in Valence. The Frenchwoman, in turn, will have to perform well in the final two stages to defend her 49 point lead from Angela Eiter.

But if the battle for second and third place in the women's event looks close, so too does the battle for first place in the men's: king Chabot has seen his lead whittle away to a "mere" 69 points, with young "Ramonet" Puigblanque ready to capitalize on the smallest of errors. Provisional third Francois Auclair will hope to regain his form after placing 14th, for Ovtchinnikov sits uncomfortably close behind with only a 11 point margin. Kranj and Edinburgh should prove interesting.

Results men
1. Chabot Alexandre FRA
2. Ovtchinnikov Evgueni RUS
3. Puigblanque RamÃ³n JuliÃ¡n ESP
4. Lachat CÃ©dric SUI
5. Dugit Fabien FRA
6. Bindhammer Andreas GER
7. Pagnoux Romain FRA
8. Bindhammer Christian GER
9. Douloub Iouri RUS
10. Bosma Peter SWE
10.Sapey Anthony SUI
12. Fuselier Mickael FRA
13. Millet Sylvain FRA
14. Auclair FranÃ§ois FRA
14.Usobiaga Patxi ESP
16. Petrenko Maxim UKR
17. Favresse Nicolas BEL
17.Wiki Thomas FRA
19. Crespi Flavio ITA
20. Caude David FRA

Results women
1. Eiter Angela AUT
2. Sarkany Muriel BEL
3. Levet Sandrine FRA
4. Ciavaldini Caroline FRA
5. Bacher Barbara AUT
5. Minoret ChloÃ© FRA
7. Lavarda Jenny ITA
8. Dufraisse AlizÃ©e FRA
9. Pinet Florence FRA
10. Franko Lucjia SLO
11. Martin Delphine FRA
12. Vidmar Katja SLO
13. Vidmar Maja SLO
14. Knorr Damaris GER
15. Son MÃ©lanie FRA
16. Louis StÃ©phanie SUI
17. Cufar Martina SLO
18. Huang Li-Ping CHN
19. Raveyre Emmanuelle FRA
20. Kysilkova Tereza CZE