Mountainbiking: Quin still in world cup contention

A bitterly disappointed Vanessa Quin handed over her downhill world championship crown yesterday but there's still much to salvage from her mountainbiking season.

Quin finished just out of the medals at the championships in Livingo, Italy, with a trio of French riders ahead of her.

Anne-Caroline Chausson claimed her ninth world crown, while her compatriots Sabrina Jonnier and Emmeline Ragout shaded Quin into fourth.

But the Tauranga rider still finished ahead of Swiss rider Marielle Saner, who leads Quin in the World Cup standings with one more round this weekend.

"I'm gutted not to get a medal again but I'm pretty happy with how I went -- it was a pretty solid result," Quin said.

"I'm reasonably confident I can beat Saner this weekend but I'm not sure if it will be enough to win the World Cup -- I'll just have to wait and see."

Quin finished the 2850m course in four minutes 35.98 seconds, 8sec adrift of Chausson and 3sec behind third-placed Ragout.

Her time was the same as the one she posted in qualifying, where she felt she could have gone much faster.

"I felt a bit flat for the race run and it seemed like I had a lot more gas in the seeding run. I stayed fairly smooth but I didn't hang it out enough."

The last round of the World Cup series is at Fort William, Scotland, and Quin isn't daunted.

"It's always tough there -- the track is rough and quite long but I've raced there three times in the last couple of years so I know what to expect."

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES