Rachel Atherton

Sam Hill

Left Gee Atherton in the DH Right 4X winner Romain Saladini

Michal Prokop and Dan Atherton fight it out

Left Fredrik Kessiakoff Right Jing Liu

Pics: mtb.si

Just a week after the conclusion of the World Championships at Fort William, the 2007 Nissan UCI MTB World Cup has drawn to a close with the finals in Maribor, Slovenia. Some titles had already been decided, but others were up for grabs and there were some new names atop the podium.

Maribor's downhill course is a 2.8km (1.7mile) run with a 450m (1,476ft) elevation drop. In the women's race, Rachel Atherton (Animal Commencal) went one better than her World Champs silver by winning the final World Cup round by a healthy 8.63s from Tracy Moseley (Kona Les Gets). Australia's Tracey Hannah came in third.

The overall title went to World Champion Sabrina Jonnier (Iron Horse/Monster Energy) - she's had a reasonably good season, then... Her team-mate Sam Hill won the men's race and the overall title. In almost a repeat of the World Championships, Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal) was second behind Hill with a meagre 1.3 second gap. Julien Camellini was third, Fabien Pedemanaud fourth and Britain's Marc Beaumont (MBUK Santa Cruz) fifth.

Matti Lehikoinen (G-Cross Honda) ended up second in the overall standings, and despite coming in 78th at Maribor with a flat ture, Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) held on to third. Britain's Josh Bryceland finished up as the highest-ranked Junior.

There was drama in the 4X event, with World Champion Jill Kintner having just a 40 point advantage over Anneke Beerten going in to the last round. Kintner's campaign ended in the semi-final, while Beerten went on to win the final and the overall title. Brian Lopes also went out in his semi final, but having won three out of four rounds (and coming second in the one he didn't win) his World Cup title was safe. Romain Saladini won the final ahead of Michal Prokop, Dan Atherton and Karim Amour.

In the XC races, the rise of the Chinese continued in the women's event as 22 year old Jing Liu scored her first World Cup victory ahead of Marie-Helene Premont. World Champion Irina Kalentieva came in third, giving her the overall title ahead of Premont and Ren Chengyuan.

Another first-time winner in the men's race, as Sweden's Fredrik Kessiakoff took his new Cannondale Scalpel 100 to victory, 1m 25s ahead of Christoph Sauser. Manuel Fumic was third. With the overall title in the bag already, and coming off a World Championship win last week, Julien Absalon clearly wasn't giving 100% - he placed 18th. Jose Antonio Hermida is second overall and Christoph Sauser third.