Fabien Barel is 2005 World Champion

Fabien Barel rode to victory yesterday the 3rd of September 2005 to claim a second rainbow title in a row at the World Championships in Livigno, Italy.

Fabien Barel aboard his Kona Stab Supreme with Marzocchi 888 is 2005 World Champion.

Fabien Barel rode to victory yesterday the of 3rd September 2005 to claim a second rainbow title in a row at the World Championships in Livigno, Italy. Fabien is now the second male rider next to Nico Voullioz to have won a a world title back to back and also with his win Barel has completed a triple: National, European and now world Champion all in the same year.
The World Championship was Fabien's main goal this season he really wanted to keep the rainbow strips on his back but it was not an easy ride to podium.
The men's race had no clear favourite, with any of five or six riders capable of taking the title. Fabien started earlier than his main rivals, after purposely taking a slow qualification run. It has been raining in the afternoon for the past few days, so he decided to get an early start time, in hopes that this could possibly tip things in his favour.
As it turned out, Barel didn't need the extra help. The rain fell for only five minutes, and dried out almost immediately, but the Frenchman was still the fastest.
As the last ten riders came down, and steadily got closer to Barel's time, he began to think that maybe going early hadn't been such a good idea mentally.

"Waiting at the bottom is a big stress." admitted Fabien. "I did an early ride as a tactic because of the weather, but then watching Greg Minnaar and Sam Hill come very, very close to my split it was very, very stressful".
Fabien said "It is a big satisfaction to win, I have trained hard all season for this race. I felt very strong but there were maybe five or six guys who could win so this is a big victory."

Fabien will now prepair for his next event the final of the World Cup in Fort William, Scotland next week where he hopes to follow last years result and win the last round.