Mani Dominates SpookyCross

Posted on 16. Oct, 2011 by lyne in race

It was a one woman show at the Spooky Cross weekend where French National Champion Caroline Mani dominated the racing, solo’ing to the win on both days. After a short recovery period for all following Saturday’s night race, Mani shot out once again to take the holeshot. Pushing the pace, she quickly distanced all but one. This time, Teal Stetson-Lee (CalGiant/Specialized) stayed on her wheel, after a much better start for the mountain biker who dropped her chain in Saturday’s race.

Caroline Mani sweeps SppokyCross weekend

More photos in gallery

Dry, warm and sunny conditions greeted everyone for day two of the Spooky Cross weekend in Irvine, California. The exact same course as the day before, offering a bit of everything: a long sandpit followed by a fast power paved section, grass swirlys, a fly over, barriers, a staircase and a few dropins and ride ups.

Stetson-Lee shut down a few attacks but the elastic finally broke and Mani was off solo at the front. The gap grew every lap, to 30 seconds by the finish. Stetson-Lee finished a strong second.

After staying with the pair early in the first lap, Sue Butler (River City Bicycles) was gapped off and had to settle for third. Behind, the chase re-shuffled until Devon Gorry (Rambuski Law) and Chloe Forsman (Race Club 11) each pulled away solo to take fourth and fifth.

Teal Stetson-Lee (CalGiant) finished a strong second at SpookyCross

Reactions.

Caroline Mani. “The same strategy as yesterday. I wanted to do the same thing. I’m really working for the beginning of the race, as I said yesterday, it’s a really big problem for me in the World Cup and I think this year it’s pretty good. Teal was really fast the two first laps and I was like ‘oooh maybe I need to attack, do something’. It was really hard today, really hot and you’re still tired from yesterday because we raced late, and we don’t have a long time to recover but it’s awesome.”

Teal Stetson-Lee (CalGiant). “She’s super fast. I was thinking I would kind of sit on her wheel for a little bit and get a feel for what her riding is like and where I might be stronger than her out there. Then I saw an opportunity, actually it was the sandpit, I couldn’t believe it, I passed her in the sandpit, I ran past her and hopped on my bike, I saw an opportunity and just attacked. But she also accelerated out of the sandpit super fast, and she was right behind and it only took three minutes down the road before she was on me. And then she attacked me back and I didn’t have anything in me to do it again so okay I’ll just stay with her but she put the hammer down and opened up a gap.”

Top 10 Results
1. Caroline Mani
2. Teal Stetson-Lee (California Giant/Specialized)
3. Susan Butler (River City Bicycles)
4. Devon Haskell (Team Rambuski Law)
5. Chloe Forsman (Race Club 11)
6. Allison Mann (Rock N’ Road Cyclery)
7. Jenni Gaertner (Raleigh America)
8. Emily Thurston (Stevens)
9. Sarah Maile (Ventana Mountain Bikes)
10. Courtney Dimpel (Team Rambuski Law)

Tags: calgiant, caroline mani, cross, cyclocross, spookycross, teal stetson-lee