It's all over from Latvia, and the much-maligned Team France, criticized by many as not selecting their best riders, has won the event. It's the second-ever victory for France in this event.
Yes, they didn't select the likes of Marvin Musquin or Jordi Tixier to compete. They didn't need, them, apparently. Gautier Paulin railed both of his motos today, with this third moto win capping a undefeated weekend for him. Surely, it's a performance that will live in the all-time ranks of 'Nations performances. Steven Frossard logged a strong fourth in the final moto to make sure this one wasn't even close. France didn't have a single finish outside of the top ten!
Belgium snagged second overall thanks to Jeremy Van Horebeek's runner up finish in the moto, and Kevin Strijbos overcame an early crash to finish ninth. But once Strijbos went down and Paulin took over the early race lead, the battle for the win was over.
And Team USA didn't have a shot, either. They needed heroic rides from Ryan Dungey and Eli Tomac, but after both went down on the first lap and came through outside of the top 30, chances were slim. But then Tomac logged an absolutely amazing ride, coming from down in the first turn to third, routinely running laps two seconds faster than anyone else. He put in a 1:51 lap, no one else in the race was even in the 1:52s. A late stall prevented him from making a last ditch run at race leaders Paulin and Van Horebeek. Dungey came back for 11th. For most of the moto, it looked like Team USA would finish off of the overall podium, until Britian's Shaun Simpson broke a chain and DNFed. That was a heartbreaker, and the Americans then tied the Brits on points, and won the tie breaker to sneak away with third.
Here are the results from moto three. We'll have much, much more coverage from the event later this afternoon so stay tuned!
