FRANCE: Troisfontaines , 7-8/7/2001

With just two stops remaining on the circuit, Brit Graham Jarvis added his name to the short list of riders to have won a round of the 2001 World Trials Series, topping the first day in eastern France. He is only the fourth rider to do so, with Takahisa Fujinami, Adam Raga each having one win, and of course defending champ Doug Lampkin running away with the vast majority of round victories. And as expected, Lampkin rebounded here, winning the second day and increasing his points lead. With just two stops remaining, the Englishman can smell his fifth title, which he's likely to clinch early next week in Andorra. Jarvis was superlative in picking up his first-ever World-round win, his confidence boosted by the wet terrain (his favorite condition). The victory, though coming in front of a smaller-than-usual-crowd, represented a great moment for a rider who has been very unfortunate in his career (he twice underwent knee surgery last year and missed two-thirds of that series). The Sherco rider was wise to wait for a complete recovery before resuming competition, and now he can work on his results.The Canterbury riders's performance - though not replicated on Sunday -gave him the satisfaction of overtaking young Raga in the points standings. Also on Sunday, Spaniard Marc Colomer reached the podium for the first time this year. In the shadows on day one, Fujinami relocated his form and attacked Lampkin hard on Sunday, though he was unlucky to find the champ well-determined and unwilling to be distracted.

Day 1
In this small village, where the highest hill is barely 30 feet above sea level, the organizing club worked hard to set up an international-level-venue, going so far as to build six artificial sections. Consequently, the trial looked more like an indoor competitions, the rain from the previous evening had dampened the sections to the point that slippery mud was carried by the bikes onto the rocks.
Being a Brit, Jarvis found something like his native ground, and he led the competition from the beginning, demoting the World Champion to the role of pursuer. At the halfway point, his score of 11 marks was the best performance, Lampkin was behind, tied with Colomer at 15 points. Then came homeboy Bruno Camozzi with 18 and David Cobos with 19. Things were going badly for Fujinami in eighth position, with 26 points, as well as for Raga in 10th.
The second loop was run quickly as usual, and both Jarvis and Lampkin scored 17 points, which meant the Jarvis had defeated his country-man for a straight-up win - his first. Colley turned in a great late performance with 18 points, but his first loop prevented him from reaching the top positions. In third place, on the podium for the first time this year, was Colomer. Behind the top three, but quite distant in terms of scores, there were six riders within three points of one another, Kenichi Kuroyama was in fourth place, then Cobos, Raga and Freixa (determined by cleans), Fujinami and Camozzi.

Day 2
The organizers modified four sections, but the rain during the evening made the wooded sections more difficult, as ample mud complicated the riders' attempts. In fact, Lampkin fived section one. Fujinami was quite angry over his poor Saturday performance, and he was quite focused off the start, not even watching his rivals' passages through the sections and instead attending only to his own business. Jarvis was not able to replicate his impressive day-one ride, taking the occasional dab, but Freixa was up to challenging Lampkin and Fujinami. Following his early flub, Lampkin recovered well and posted several cleans, so that at the end of loop one, he was tied with Fujinami for the lead with 18 points. Freixa was runner-up with 23 points, and then came Cobos on 26. Jarvis was only in sixth place, with 35.

In the second loop, both Lampkin and Fujinami rode very well, showing their best qualities, but a bad five in section eight was fatal for the Japanese rider's hopes. Lampkin won by only three points, and in such a close competition, it was an important accomplishment. Behind them, in third place, Cobos again found the proper motivation and replicated the good performances he had in the first part of this season. Freixa was fourth, while Jarvis maintained sixth place

Briefly…
· Troisfontaines is a very small village about 40 miles from Strasbourg and the German border in eastern France. The organizers had a difficult task of building six artificial sections because the terrain is flat, with only a few small hills. In fact, it was so difficult to believe that a World Trial round could be held in the location as even the hotels were quite distant.
· The sections were well-planned, in particular the natural zones laid in the woods. It was easy for spectators to follow the competition because there were many buses to carry them to the two farthest groups of sections. Sections 12 through 15 were near the start, as was number one. Less then a mile away were zones two through five, and a mile in the other direction were six through 11.
· The venue was so small and hidden that a relatively small group of spectators was on hand to witness the competition. Only 4,000 paid the $ 7 daily entry fee. In addition, the pit area was inconvenient, nearly a mile from the start area.
· The weather was quite uncooperative. Rain and sun alternated on Saturday, and day two started under the rain but in sunlight.
· Despite a bad crash the weekend before, Josep Manzano was on hand at the start. The Junior World Champion had been dismissed from the hospital in Bergamo, Italy, with three stitches in his chin, and he appeared less confident than normal in France.
· Eager to capitalize on the wary Manzano, the other Junior-class riders were aggressive. On Saturday, Frenchman Jerome Bethune (his minder is three-time World ChampionTherry Michaud) won over Spaniard Josè-Maria Saez and Swede Anders Nilsson and Manzano was only in sixth. On Sunday, Manzano once again got his ducks in a row, winning over Taichi Tanaka and Jerome Bethune