Sabine Spitz claimed Germany's first cycling gold at the Beijing Olympics after winning the women's mountain bike cross country on Saturday.

Spitz dominated the race from the first lap to the last, clocking in one hour, 45 minutes and 11 seconds to take the gold.

Crossing the finish line, she got off her bike and took it above her head to give herself a spectacular celebration with the German flag on her back.

Maja Wloszczowska of Poland took the silver in 1:45:52, while the bronze medal went to Irina Kalentyeva of Russia in 1:46:28.

Six-time World Cup champion Marie Helene Premont of Canada took the lead from the very beginning, but it was German veteran Sabine Spitz who broken out at the end of the first lap to establish the lead.

The Athen's bronze medallist demonstrated her climbing skills and endurance to expand her lead to more than one minute after three laps, followed by a group of six riders with Chinese medal hopeful Liu Ying placed fourth.

The Germany's women cyclist of the year kept her leading position for the fourth and fifth lap as Maja Wloszczowska pulled out to get the second place, followed by Catharine Pendrel of Canada and Russian Irian Kalentyeva, while Chinese Liu Ying fainted to the six.

Liu finally placed 12, while another Chinese biker Ren Chengyuan finished fifth.

The Laoshan course is 4.5 kilometers long, and features a hard-pack track with a number of small climbs through heavy brush and woods. Women bikers need to ride six laps for the race.

Changes were made to the course to make it more technical, adding more banked curves, drops, rock and new climbs and descents after rides complained it lacked of challenge at the Good Luck Beijing invitational event.

The women's mountain bike cross country race was previously scheduled for Friday, but was postponed to Saturday because of Thursday's rain. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2008)