Today saw the first of two days of action in the 2005 Trial des Nations in Sestriere, Italy. Day one saw the ladies take centre stage and it was a tough battle at the top between Germany, Great Britain and Spain.
It was the Brits girls of Maria Conway, Donna Fox and Becky Cook who took the early lead with a three point cushion over Iris Kramer, Roseta Leotta and Sabrina Wiendl of Germany at the end of the first lap. However, it was the Spanish Team consisting of current Ladies World Champion, Laia Sanz, Delores Sanchez and Carla Calderer who upped the game in the second lap dropping just three penalties between them.
With Britain holding on to a narrow lead over Spain and Germany back in third place going into the final, there was all to play for and it was to be the German team that were to prevail. Their score in the final of 9 compared to the 15 dropped by both Britain and Spain was sufficient for them to leapfrog both and take victory by one mark over Britain.
Tomorrow sees the second day of competition in Sestriere with the mens teams battling it out.
| 2005 Trial des Nations | |||
| Ladies TdN Results | |||
Pos | Team | Riders | Score |
1 | Germany | Iris Kramer Rosita Leotta Sabrina Weindl | 29 |
2 | Great Britain | Maria Conway Becky Cook Donna Fox | 30 |
3 | Spain | Laia Sanz Carla Calderer Delores Sanchez | 32 |
4 | Japan | Mariko Hagiwara Aya Nishimura Maya Takahashi | 45 |
5 | France | Claire Bertrand Blandine Guillaud Maryline Journet | 72 |
Did Not Qualify For Final | |||
6 | Australia | Rebecca Rennison Sara Rivera Michele Owen | 58 |
7 | Norway | Lene Dyrkorn Kjersty Fla Eirin Vage | 67 |
8 | Canada | Christy Williams Kerry Williams Heather Wall | 81 |
8 | Italy | Deborath Albertini Marta Passet Alessandra SBrana | 86 |
10 | USA | Nicole Bradford Sarah Duke Louise Forsley | 103 |
11 | Sweden | Sandra Dahlstrom Martina Hansson Vera Vidqvist | 134 |
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| Photos courtesy of Jesús Sanz | |||