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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128236
T r ia l d e s Nations c (L eft to right) The Great Britain team of Ben Hemingway, Graham Ja.rvis, Sam ~onnor a,!d reigning World Tnals ChampIon Dou!!,e Lampkin scored a somewhat controversIal w in at the Trials des Nations in Italy. The t ea m beat Spain by one point after the Spaniards were assessed a five-point penalty. (fnglanb S T ORY AND P HOT OS By M A RIO C A N D ELLO N E j O CTO BER 1 5 , 2 0 03 ' cue the battle among the fi rst f o u r t ea ms was ve ry int ens e. They a ll fi n ished within seven points . Fou rth went t o the unlucky U .S. team , who sco red its best results on the second loop. A fu ll 16 o ut of t he 18 hazard s were in the woods , w ith some technical lanes and obst acles quite slippery due to the mud (even if dry terrain, there was just a littl e) dragged by the bikes. It was a kind of old style, appreciated less by the younger riders, like Chris Florin . "I do no t like these sections," Flo rin sa id . " T h ey seemed old style. I p refer Geoff Aaron helped Team USA finish f o u rth in Group B. IAVARONE, ITALY, SEPT. 27ยท28 o r the second con secutive year, the Br it ish team is World Cham p i o n , w innin g th e tradit iona l Trials des N ati on s, held at Lavarone, Italy. A predicted vi cto ry by the Spa nish team , es pecially a f te r England's Steve Colley pull ed o u t du e t o a n intestinal problem and had to be substitut ed by young Ben Hemingway at the l ast moment , wa s com p ro mi sed aft er a st rict but c o rr ect c all by an o b se r ve r. T h e o bse rver penaliz ed M arc F re ix a 's min d er fo r havin g m ov ed some rocks insid e the section . In such an easy competitio n, as Td N is, five points m o re can mean the end of a ny chance of victory. Indeed , Great Brit ain scored 15 points tota l, and the Sp an ia rd s o ne point more. The Ja p anese team wa s th ird aft er suffering an unlucky mecha nica l fa il ure w it h team member Ta ic hi Tanaka 's b ike . N o thi ng c hanged com pa red wi th la st yea r as far as the fo u rt h - a nd the fifth -place tea ms ; it wa s sti ll a battl e between Italy and Fran ce , who fi nis hed in that order. In th e B group, Fi nland wo n by one point ove r Belgium, w ith Ireland fin ish ing third and knocking Team USA off the podium . The Ameri can s appeared not really to favor th ese ki nds of sec tio ns, wh ic h are m ore te chnica l than spectacular. The day before the opening day of the TdN , in a similar co m- 32 ~etgn5 ~gatn high rocks and bi g j umps , as modern tr ials have." Older riders, such as Geoff Aa ron, were not as trou bled by the layout s. "I liked th ese secti ons, and person ally I rode qui te well ," A aro n said . "As a team we w ere n ot lucky bec ause when some of us m ade a m istake, the others d id th e same , and so we d id not have th e advantage of hav ing a sc ore reject ed in each section ." The Finnish tea m took the Gro up B tr op hy . Th e tea m , wh o rod e wi t h G roup A two years ago a nd was ab sent last year, pinched the victory by just one po int on Belg ium, but after the fir st lap , it was th e Irel and wh o led, sco ring 10 ma rk s agai nst 11 by Fin land and Belg ium. Ireland's worse sec on d lap dropped it to thi rd plac e. S UNDAY . G RO UP A The co m peti tion was easy enoug h for th e nine tea ms , so it was a su rpr ise w hen the Spanish team wa s pen a li ze d . After two cleans by Mar c petition reserved for women , the Germa n te am prevailed over Great Brit ain and Spa in . Team USA finished sixth , ahead of Ita ly, J apa n and Portugal. SUNDAY . GROUP B There wer e 13 teams on hand all over the world. On th e 18 sections - repea t ed t w ic e as th e fo rm u la mandates I e n e vv s (L eft t o right) Andrea Davis, Kerrie Brokaw and "! ic:ole Bradford represented Team USA in the Ladies Trials des Nations. The t eam fInIshed seventh overall.