World Cup Valence: Verhoeven and Eiter victorious

The penultimate round of the World Cup Lead 2005 was won in Valence, France by Jorg Verhoeven and Angela Eiter.

October 2005

The end is is sight. The penultimate round of the World Cup Lead 2005 was won in Valence, France by Jorg Verhoeven and Angela Eiter. Eiter's win seals her second consecutive overall World Cup victory, while the men's event remains wide open with both Flavio Crespi from Italy and Ramon Julian Puigblanque from Spain in the running for the overall title.

The 2005 revelation Jorg Verhoeven produced his first ever World Cup victory in Valence leaving little room for others. Flavio Crespi limited damages and defended his overall lead by placing 5th, just one position behind Puigblanque, who now trails by 59 points. Kranj at the end of November will prove decisive once again for the men's event as this goes down to the wire, and the battle will be hard fought for both first and second and third and fourth: a mere 13 points separate Lachat from Verhoeven. Lachat was beaten into third place by a surprising MickaÃ«l Fuselier, on top form in Valence.

After her Chinese hiccough Eiter continues to reign supreme and hers was the only top in the final. Caroline Ciavaldini placed second for the second time this season and she is now well-placed for overall third in 2005. The young Frenchwoman beat teammate Sandrine Levet into third place while Maja Vidar, the only athlete to have beaten Eiter this year, finished fourth to consolidate her provisional second place in 2005.

The final round takes place in Kranj, Slovenia on 19/20 November!

Valence (FRA)
Results Men- Valence (FRA)
1 VERHOEVEN Jorg (NED)
2 FUSELIER Micka‘l (FRA)
3 LACHAT CÃ©dric (SUI)
4 PUIGBLANQUE Ramon Julian (ESP)
5 CRESPI Flavio (ITA)
6 MIDTBOE Magnus (NOR)
7 USOBIAGA Patxi (ESP)
8 MRAZEK Thomas (CZE)

Results Women - Valence (FRA)
1 EITER Angela (AUT)
2 CIAVALDINI Caroline (FRA)
3 LEVET Sandrine (FRA)
4 VIDMAR Maja (SLO)
5 JANUEL Caroline (FRA)
6 LAVARDA Jenny (ITA)
7 EYER Alexandra (SUI)
8 KIM Ja-In (KOR)

Photos: Flavio Crespi, Angela Eiter at the Rock Master, Arco 2005.
ph Giulio Malfer