This week's downhill took place on a freshly built (and John Tomac-designed) track just above the teenaged Telluride Mountain Village, bringing a short and dusty course together with one expensive planned village.

Only 1.2km, 0.8 miles, in length, the rock- and dust-strewn course punished riders with its tricky off-camber turns in lung-searing thin air. It wasn't particularly well-liked, though it demanded respect from those who would ultimately master it.

More than one rider lost precious seconds due to a too-wide turn or misplaced wheel, making for another podium separated by just hundredths of a second. For men's winner Steve Peat (GBR, Orange England), just .15 separated him from 2nd place Fabien Barel (FRA, Maxxis-MSC). Women's winner Anne-Caroline Chausson (FRA, Volvo-Cannondale) came from a hospital bed to battle hard and beat Sabrina Jonnier (FRA, Intense Cycles) by just a half-second.

Chausson a True Champion
Chausson showed her true colors this weekend with the most impressive display of courage and strength we've ever seen in women's World Cup downhill racing.

Injured in Saturday night's four-cross, she came back Sunday to not just to compete but to win her third-straight race of this season.

As we reported in our four-cross coverage, Chausson crashed hard in the women's final run Saturday, and was taken away on a backboard by ambulance to nearby Montrose hospital. She spent the night being CAT scanned and X-rayed, then attended to by team staffer Benoit Nave.

Come Sunday morning she awoke in so much pain that she could barely stand. "She looked like she had a fight with Mike Tyson," said teammate Cedric Gracia. "I made her breakfast but she looked so bad and could barely eat."

Chausson was barely holding on to the overall lead in the series, as rival Sabrina Jonnier (FRA, Intense Cycles) nipped at her heels in the points standings. Chausson dreaded the thought of missing a round and losing the World Cup, but was in such bad shape she couldn't even sit up when she awoke Sunday morning.

"I wasn't going to race when I woke up," said Chausson, "but I took a little ride on my trainer and felt okay." So Chausson, who could barely think straight but knew she needed some - any - points, made the call to her team manager.

"She said 'Get my bike ready,'" said her manager Eric. And so she took the gondola ride up to the village and got ready, donning her rainbow jersey and heading up to the start for her seeding run. Even the semi-finals give points toward the overall, so Chausson figured she'd pick up a few points and take it from there.

"In the morning, Sabrina came over to our team truck and asked if Anne was racing," said Gracia later. "I thought for sure Anne wouldn't be racing, but I didn't want to give Sabrina the confidence. I don't think it's sporting to take advantage of another person's injury." So Gracia, Chausson's teammate and "big brother" (even though he's a year younger than Chausson) said, "Maybe she's racing," even though he himself wouldn't believe that she'd soon show up at the truck and race.

At 11am the photographers and TV crews lined the course, not expecting Chausson, scheduled first on the hill, to show up. Imagine their collective surprise when the rainbow jersey appeared from the woods, flying down the course and into the finish with an eventual 6th-place finish in the semi-final run.

Her rival Jonnier, stunned that Chausson was even racing, only managed to qualify 4th-fastest. Chausson was now within 17 points of Jonnier going into the final run, and just needed to make it down the hill faster to collect more points and hold onto her points lead as the two Frenchwomen head to Les Gets, France, in September for the final showdown.

"I wouldn't be racing today if the championship were not on the line," said Chausson as she sat at the team truck between the seeding run and the finals. "I don't care if I win, I just want to earn as many points as I can."

At 2pm, the women's final began. April Lawyer (USA, Maxxis), #17, who had a great finish in the 4X, took the leader's hotseat with a run of 2:28. Then 2000 Junior World Champion Kathy Pruitt (USA, Santa Cruz/Azonic) overtook her with a run of 2:25, breathing hard and asking "does anyone have some oxygen?"

Pruitt had posted perhaps her most competitive World Cup run, and it took the mighty Chausson to unseat her. While onlookers wondered if she'd even be in the hunt, Chausson crossed the finish line with a time of 2:21.73. It was only with assistance that she climbed into the hotseat to await the remaining six riders.

Jonnier was down soon enough, but missed Chausson's mark by a half second, telling MountainZone.com later that she was "angry with her run." Neither Missy Giove (USA, Global Racing Team) nor Marielle Saner (SUI, Team Global Racing)or top-qualifier Tracy Moseley (GBR, Team Kona) could beat Chausson's time. Chausson had pulled off the inconceivable, won the race and left Jonnier 62 points behind in the standings.

Jonnier held on for 2nd place, Saner 3rd, Giove 4th and Moseley 5th.

Peat Inches Closer to the Title
Steve Peat (GBR, Orange England) won his first World Cup final of the season back in Mont Sainte-Anne, beating rival Chris Kovarik (AUS, Intense Cycles) as the two battled for points and this season's overall title.

Kovarik crashed hard during training in Quebec, but didn't realize how bad things were until he began training in the thin air of Telluride.

"I wasn't feeling well and had blood in my urine, so I went to the hospital," said Kovarik. "It turned out that I had a broken thumb, a fractured rib and a bruised kidney from that crash." It was enough to take Kovarik out of contention this week, as the #2-ranked rider finished a distant 21st in the finals, dropping to 3rd overall.

Peat remains 1st, overcoming his own injury (knee) to post a time just barely faster than top-seeded Fabien Barel (FRA, Maxxis-MSC). Barel had won the semi-finals with a time of 2:03.60, while Peat was only 8th fastest. But in the finals Peat ran a nearly error-free final run of 2:01.81 to bump newcomer Dustin Adams (Giant) from the hotseat after the Canadian Downhill National Champ posted his career's best run in only his 3rd World Cup outing.

Seven more men would take a whack at Peaty's time, but fail to surpass it, including Cedric Gracia (FRA, Volvo-Cannondale) who had the day's second-fastest intermediate time but then lost time in the course's final three big sweeping turns, relegating him to 6th.

"I thought for sure I was going to die," he said, laughing, afterward. Fifth place went to Mick "Hurricane" Hannah (AUS, Haro/Lee Dungarees) despite continuing to heal his broken little finger. Fourth place was Adams and 3rd place went to longtime racer Cyril Lagneau (FRA, Maxxis-MSC) who had the day's fastest intermediate time and was only .71 from the win.

Barel smashed his chain retention device and lost enough time to finish 2nd just .15 slower than Peat, who was wearing a skinsuit for better aerodynamics.

"All the final riders were fast," he said. "I was nervous waiting for them. Fabien was fast and always rides as fast as he can. Now I'm looking forward to Worlds."

Peat can look forward to the September finals as well, as he holds a commanding 142 point lead over #2 Gracia, while Kovarik hangs in there at 3rd overall, five points behind Gracia.

"Time for a beer?" we asked Peat after his win. "Maybe one or two," he said, smiling, before being handed just one of the many drinks proffered to him that day and evening. Peat is a true rock star.

— Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent