ROCHETTE 5TH AT CYCLO-CROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

LUXEMBOURG, Jan. 28, 2017 – Maghalie Rochette of St-Jerome, Quebec, had a breakthrough ride on the opening day of competition at the Cyclo-cross World Championships on Saturday, finishing fifth in the Elite Women’s race at Bieles, Luxembourg.

Ice and mud made the course extremely slick, with most riders crashing multiple times on the tricky off camber climbs and descents.  Rochette, the reigning Canadian champion, came back from a poor start to join the top five at the front of the race by the second lap.  When seven time world champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands and Sanne Cant of Belgium attacked mid-race, Rochette was dropped but rode solo in fifth place for the rest of the race to finish 36 seconds down on eventual winner Cant. Mical Dyck of Victoria finished 20th and Cindy Montambault of Val-David, Quebec, was 24th.

“I had a horrible start,” admitted Rochette, “but I just kept paying attention to what was ahead and when there was a crash I was able to get around it and I was able to catch up to the front group.  After that I just kept moving forward.  I had a clean race and didn’t really crash, so it was pretty amazing and I’m really happy.  Personally I thought the course was amazing; it was slippery but that was the same for everybody.  You just had to keep clean and keep moving.  We had similar conditions at Nationals so I knew how to race it.  I didn’t think about it [top-5] and I have a lot of people to thank – my boyfriend and coach, my family, my team mates and Cyclo-cross Canada.  I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m super happy and thrilled about it.”

In other competitions, Gunnar Holmgren of Orillia, Ontario, was the top Canadian in the Junior men’s race, finishing 22nd, 4:15 behind winner Thomas Pidcock of Great Britain.  Brody Sanderson (Orillia, ON) was 25th and Noah Simms (Barrie, ON) 46th.  In the Under-23 women’s race, Canada’s lone entry, Ruby West (Dundas, ON), was 26th, 6:03 behind winner Annemarie Worst of the Netherlands.