France's Bresset powers to Olympic gold at Hadleigh Farm

2:45pm Saturday 11th August 2012 in News

Julie Bresset Julie Bresset

A dominant performance saw Julie Bresset of France win the London 2012 Olympic Games women's cross-country mountain bike at Hadleigh Farm.

World under-23 champion Bresset led from the gun and triumphed in one hour 30 minutes 52 seconds.

The 2008 champion Sabine Spitz of Germany was second, 1min 02secs behind, with Georgia Gould of the United States third, six seconds further adrift.

Great Britain's Annie Last placed eighth, 2:55 behind.

Last made a strong start on the first of six laps of the 4.7-kilometre route, carved into an Essex hillside overlooking the Thames estuary, and was in the front group early on.

The 21-year-old from Bakewell was in good company and was behind only Bresset at the end of the first lap and the Frenchwoman forged on in the second, leading again, with Spitz second and world champion Catharine Pendrel third. Last was fifth, 11 seconds behind.

Gould joined Spitz and Bresset in the front group as the Frenchwoman went through the start-finish line with a lead of four seconds with three laps to go. Last was 34 seconds adrift.

Spitz went over her handlebars with Gould behind her on a steep rocky section known as Deane's Drop as Bresset went further clear.

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Bresset appeared unstoppable as she passed through the two-laps to go marker in 1hr 40secs, with Spitz 33secs adrift and Gould trying to stay with the German. Last was 1min 22secs behind in fifth.

With one lap to go Bresset led by 57secs and appeared set for victory. Last was 2:13 behind in seventh.

Bresset continued to power on as she soloed to victory - France's first cycling gold of the Olympics.

Comments(10)

Francis Grubb says...
4:19pm Sat 11 Aug 12

Well done to all of them; that is a heck of a challenging course. Congratulations to Bresset; commiserations to Last.

Frank

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APR says...
5:01pm Sat 11 Aug 12

It certainly didn't look easy. We didn't go in the event site, but it all seemed to be very well organised, even though it was over staffed in certain areas.

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heartbeat says...
5:06pm Sat 11 Aug 12

Please beware anyone who has paid £45 for a "Category A" ticket instead of £20 for the cheaper tickets (I wanted cheaper tickets but couldn't get them as they were sold out, and decided to shell out for £45 tickets for the "once in a lifetime" experience.) However....having had seven years to prepare for the Olympics..... once you get to the site and ask countless helpers/officials etc. it becomes clear that no-one has actualy arranged anything any different for £45 ticketholders rather than £20 ones. All spectators have exactly the same places to stand etc. etc. irrespective of price paid for tickets!

The advice (and lots of apologies) given to my family by various officials changed each time I asked someone, but the concluding advice given by two officials/helpers was to claim refunds for the overcharging via the website. I assumed they meant London2012 website where I bought them so have just done so. Paying an extra £25 a ticket for nothing does not enhance enjoyment! The race itself was great however, and how those women have so much energy and can keep going round that gruelling track is beyond me.

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APR says...
5:08pm Sat 11 Aug 12

We were talking to one of the helpers, at the country park.
He was saying that the foreign bikers are all very friendly. The only ones
who don't smile or talk to them, are the GB team.

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heartbeat says...
5:20pm Sat 11 Aug 12

heartbeat wrote:
Please beware anyone who has paid £45 for a "Category A" ticket instead of £20 for the cheaper tickets (I wanted cheaper tickets but couldn't get them as they were sold out, and decided to shell out for £45 tickets for the "once in a lifetime" experience.) However....having had seven years to prepare for the Olympics..... once you get to the site and ask countless helpers/officials etc. it becomes clear that no-one has actualy arranged anything any different for £45 ticketholders rather than £20 ones. All spectators have exactly the same places to stand etc. etc. irrespective of price paid for tickets!

The advice (and lots of apologies) given to my family by various officials changed each time I asked someone, but the concluding advice given by two officials/helpers was to claim refunds for the overcharging via the website. I assumed they meant London2012 website where I bought them so have just done so. Paying an extra £25 a ticket for nothing does not enhance enjoyment! The race itself was great however, and how those women have so much energy and can keep going round that gruelling track is beyond me.
ps I am assuming it will be the same for the Mens' Mountain Bike event tomorrow - i.e. if you paid £45 instead of £20 you'll need to claim a refund unless you're happy to pay over double for the same thing as the person standing next to you.

I asked whether there had been any other arrangements made for tomorrow but none of the officials etc. I asked had any information, so I'm assuming there isn't any.

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CIP says...
6:26pm Sat 11 Aug 12

Did ANYONE'S enjoyment of the games in Hadleigh get marred by the roadworks in the area?

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CIP says...
6:29pm Sat 11 Aug 12

I attended a breifing about the games given by Stephen Castle Essex Cheif of the Games - he told us that no-one would get any favours in getting tickets and we had the same chance as someone from Italy of getting one for the local event. Then we read in the papers that due to lack of interest tickets were being given to locals? Perhaps all titckets should have been offered at £20?

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John T Pharro says...
7:02pm Sat 11 Aug 12

Enjoyed the event, but the BBC coverage did nothing to show where it was being held. So much for the World seeing Hadleigh. The commentary made reference to the land being purchased by the Salvation Army, still used to help the "disadvantaged" and it being a rare breed farm.
Hardly likely to put us as a place to go does it?

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Brunning999 says...
9:34pm Sat 11 Aug 12

Good result by Stephen Castle now bully CPBC into providing real cycle routes not just pathetic blue 'cycle route 3' on footpaths which are the only safe place to ride but illegal.

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APR says...
10:30am Tue 14 Aug 12

Tickets for the mountain biking were available for £17.

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