Puigblanque and Eiter win in Puurs

Angela Eiter from Austria and Ramón Julián Puigblanque from Spain have won the second round of the Lead Worldcup 2005 held in Puurs, Belgium, last weekend.

Vinicio Stefanello

May 2005

Traduci in

Puurs, second stage of the World Cup Difficulty. Or rather, the Lead World Cup as it has now been entitled. This Belgian stage was won by none other than Angela Eiter from Austria and RamÃ³n JuliÃ¡n Puigblanque from Spain.

Eiter is definitely the woman to beat, but with two straight victories in 2005 she is currently on top form and unstoppable. The young Austrian topped out on all three routes, and was the only athlete to complete the difficult Semi-Final. She was followed in second place by Sandrine Levet, the only athlete capable of winning both the Lead and Bouldering disciplines, while Maja Vidmar placed 3rd, Caroline Ciavaldini 4th and Muriel Sarkany a somewhat under par 5th.

Nothing can be taken for granted in the men's event, where the physical and technical gap between the best is stripped to a bare minimum and even the smallest mistake can cost dearly. European Champion Puigblanque beat Italian Flavio Crespi into second place, and one week after his disastrous 29th position in Veliko Tarnovo Alexandre Chabot set the record straight and placed 3rd. Tomas Mrazek is finding it hard to lift off this season; after his 9th place last week, he now placed 8th overall, while Usobiaga surprisingly failed to qualify for the final and placed a disappointing 10th. These gaps were filled by the likes of the fresh faces (Verhoeven 6th), a Swissman back on form (Lachat, 4th) and 32 year old "veteran" Luca Zardini (7th).

To get an idea of the overall picture, take a look at the team results: Italy is currently in the lead with 290 points, ahead of Spain (233) and Switzerland (174). France trails in 4th place with 137 points, without a doubt the most surprising result so far. Will the French squad continue to perform so poorly? Presumably not, seeing that the women have taken the lead with a smooth 417 points, ahead of Slovenia (354) and Italy (330).

There's plenty of time to think and reflect: the next stop is in Imst, Austria, on 27-28 May.

Puurs (Belgium)
Final results men
1 Puigblanque RamÃ³n JuliÃ¡n ESP
2 Crespi Flavio ITA
3 Chabot Alexandre FRA
4 Lachat CÃ©dric SUI
5 Vinokur Vadim USA
6 Verhoeven Jorg NED
7 Zardini Luca ITA
8 MrÃ¡zek TomÃ¡s CZE
9 Bindhammer Christian GER
10 Usobiaga Patxi ESP
11 PreuÃler Timo GER
12 Ovtchinnikov Evgueni RUS
13 Sapey Anthony SUI
14 Fuselier Mickael FRA
15 Desgranges Romain FRA
16 Sova Matej SLO
17 Dugit Fabien FRA
18 Winkler Daniel SUI
19 Legrand Yannick FRA
20 Becan Klemen SLO
21 Favresse Olivier BEL
22 Brenna Cristian ITA
23 Ten Sijthoff Casper NED
24 Droetto Fabrizio ITA
25 Magin Philipp GER
26 Valjavec Tomaz SLO
27 Ito Hidekazu JPN
28 Schmid Thomas SUI
29 Hirayama Yuji JPN
29 Sommer Remo SUI
31 Repcik Juraj SVK
32 Guerimand Flavien FRA
33 Bindhammer Andreas GER
33 Tak Timo NED
35 Marin Garcia Eduard ESP
36 Mottart Didier BEL
37 Giupponi Luca ITA
38 Timmermans Michael BEL
39 De Girolamo Vincent FRA
39 Millet Sylvain FRA
39 Reis JÃ¼rgen AUT
42 Gambaro Matteo ITA
43 Libot Wanne BEL
44 Thomas Jonathan BEL
45 Materne Florian BEL

Final results women
1 Eiter Angela AUT
2 Levet Sandrine FRA
3 Vidmar Maja SLO
4 Ciavaldini Caroline FRA
5 Sarkany Muriel BEL
6 Gros Natalija SLO
7 Franko Lucjia SLO
8 Giroux Elodie FRA
9 Kobayashi Yuka JPN
10 Bacher Barbara AUT
11 Eyer Alexandra SUI
12 Januel Caroline FRA
13 Graftiaux ChloÃ© BEL
14 Zjilstra Vera NED
15 Chevrier Anne-Laure FRA
16 Graftiaux Alix BEL
17 Cufar Martina SLO
Minoret ChloÃ© FRA
19 Stendal Linn Karin NOR
20 Piola Anouk SUI
21 Ruh Nadine GER
22 Markovic Mina SLO
23 Caprez Nina SUI
24 Harnisch Martina AUT
25 Guggisberg Annina SUI
26 Raffetseder Gerda AUT
27 Louis StÃ©phanie SUI
Saurwein Katharina AUT
29 Steenackers Katie BEL
30 Nilwik Rachel NED
Zijlstra Evelien NED
32 Anthoni Kim BEL
33 Lavarda Jenny ITA
34 Brumagne Mathilde BEL