ALBSTADT, May 29, 2017 – Canadian riders had multiple top-20 performances on the second day of Round 2 of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Albstadt, Germany, with Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing) the best in tenth place, despite a flat on the final lap. Yana Belomoina of Ukraine won the race.

In the Elite women’s race, both Rio Olympians Batty and Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team) started further back on the grid than they usually do, after having problems in the first Round that lowered their ranking in the series.  However, both moved up strongly through the field, with Pendrel reaching fifth before crashing and sliding back to finish 14th.  Batty had moved up to seventh on the final lap before a flat tire dropped her down a few placings.  After two rounds, Batty is 12th in the overall standings and Pendrel 17th.

“Even though I was in the third row it worked out fine for me and I had a good start,” said Batty, “but I lost a lot of time on the first climb because it was so loose.  I got up as far as seventh on the last lap, I think, and then I rear flatted on the second last descent.  So I’m happy with tenth, it’s better than last week and I felt like I was racing more like myself.”

Other Canadian results include Sandra Walter (Team Canada) in 24th, Cindy Montambault (Team Canada) in 39th, Haley Smith (Norco Factory) in 47th and Catherine Fleury (Team Canada) in 48th.

In the Elite men’s competition, Rio Olympian Leandre Bouchard, riding for the French professional BH-SR Suntour-KMC team finished a career-high 16th in a World Cup.  World and Olympic champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland won.  Bouchard started well back but worked his way forward.

“I’m pretty proud, this is my best result ever at the World Cup,” said Bouchard.  “The course is one of the most physical we have on the World Cup, with pretty long and steep climbs.  This wasn’t the best course for me because I am so tall, but when you have the legs, you have the legs.  I started back, but I just kept looking for places to pass and slowly move up.  There was an opportunity with the heat also as people got tired, so the strategy was to just keep moving up when I could.”

In other Canadian results, Derek Zandstra (Cannondale-3Rox) was 24th, Raphael Gagne (Cannondale-3Rox) was 41st, Andrew L’Esperance (Team Canada) was 68th and Evan McNeely (Team Canada) was 113th.

In the Under-23 women’s race held earlier in the day, Anne-Julie Tremblay (Equipe du Quebec / Cyclone d’Alma) finished 16th and is 20th overall in the standings.

Canadian head coach Dan Proulx summarized the project by saying:  “The first two World Cups of the year are always challenging – especially after an Olympic Games. New riders emerge and established riders are still rebuilding fitness.”

“The rides that Peter [Disera – 3rd in Under-23 Men] and Leandre did were exceptional. They’ve invested a lot of time and energy into gaining European experience since they were Juniors. They’ve climbed each and every rung of the ladder over here. You can only gain their level of experience by being here – and working your way through the ranks. We aim to give as many riders as possible this experience in the hopes of finding other riders who can rise to the challenge like they did.”

“Catharine and Emily are still very much on track with where we feel they should be in a post-Olympic year. The higher the level of performer, the more important the periodization of rest and recovery across the entire quadrennial becomes. They’re where we need them to be right now. I have total confidence in them.”

OTTAWA, May 22, 2017 – After a break of over two months, the Canada Cup national mountain bike series resumed with VéloMotion at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, on May 21-22 with the second round of the Cross-country series and the opening round of the Downhill competition.

Mont Tremblant is one of the longest running venues on the Canada Cup circuit, known for its lengthy climbs and the cobbled sections through the Tremblant village on the cross-country circuit.  However, this year the course was changed significantly, reducing the amount of singletrack in favour of gravel fire roads.  With rain on the days leading into racing there was some very slippery sections in the trees on the roots and rocks, while the open sections were dry and fast. A perfect mix of conditions that had riders debating on tires choices. Many of Canada’s top pros were absent, competing in Europe at the opening round of the World Cup.

The Cross-country competition took place on Sunday, with Evan Guthrie (Team Solo Evan) taking his first win of the season in the Elite Men’s race, a vindication after suffering a mechanical while in second place at the opening round in Bear Mountain, Victoria.  American Sandy Floren (Bear Development Team) was second, over a minute back, with Raphael Auclair (Pivot Cycles-Ote) in third, a further 38 seconds in arrears.

“Mont-Tremblant has been the longest standing Canada Cup I’ve attended since 2008,” said Guthrie, “and I was happy to be back after missing it last year. The old course used to be one of my favourites before they shortened it to meet the new school course designs. It was unfortunate this year that we descended on gravel roads, but a race is a race and always gets sorted by the riders’ legs.”

In the overall standings, Guthrie leads with 320 points, followed by Floren at 265 and Quinton Disera (Norco Factory) at 250.

The Elite Women’s race saw two B.C. riders take the top spots, with Jayne Rossworn (Independent) beating Emily Unterberger (Independent) by 13 seconds.  Frederique Trudel (Pivot Cycles-Ote) took third, 1:32 behind the winner.  With 305 points, Rossworn takes over the lead in the standings from the absent Catharine Pendrel (Clif Bar), followed by Unterberger at 244 and Soren Meeuwisse (Trek Canada) at 235.

In the Junior Expert races, Holden Jones (Cycling BC) was the men’s winner ahead of American Gaelen Kilburn (Hot Tubes), and also becomes the Series’ leader with 160 points to Round 1 winner Gunner Holmgren’s (Centurion Next Wave) 100 points – Holmgren did not finish at Mont Tremblant.

In the Junior Women’s category, Leya Masson (CC Mont-Sainte-Anne) won by nearly a minute over visiting Czech rider Tereza Saskova (Ceska Sporitelna Specialized Junior MTB Team).  In the overall standings, Sidney Mcgill (Focus CX Canada) moves into the lead after a second in the first round and third at Tremblant, with 155 points.  U.S. national team rider Gwendalyn Gibson is second, five points back.

The opening round of the Downhill Canada Cup saw Sarah Konefal (Independent) become the first to don the leader’s jersey in Elite Women, finishing 2.128 seconds ahead of Audrée Vaillancourt (Independent) with Maxine Bergeron (Independent) finishing third.

In the combined Elite and Junior Men’s field, Samuel Thibault (Independent) finished 4.005 seconds ahead of Jonthan Lefrancois (Independent), with Benjamin Despres-Morin (Roost Racing / Sports Aux Puces) finishing third.  The top Junior rider was Blake Bunting (Cycles St-Onge) in tenth place.

The Cross-country series continues on May 27th at Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, site of last year’s national championships.  Baie-Saint-Paul will also include a UCI Junior XCO race.  On the same date, the second round of the Downhill series takes place with the East Coast Open at Blue Mountain, Ontario.

NOVE MESTO, May 21, 2017 – World and Olympic champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) continued his domination of the Nove Mesto course at the opening round of the Cross-country World Cup on Sunday, taking his fifth win in the seven years of racing at this Czech Republic venue (six World Cups and one world championship, last year).

Canadian champion Derek Zandstra (Cannondale-3Rox) finished 28th, despite getting caught behind a crash.  The start was marred by a crash in the first few metres, when Matthias Stirnemann (Scott-SRAM) went over the bars after his chain broke, causing a pileup behind him.

“I was on the left side,” explained Zandstra, “and I saw a guy’s head go down and all of a sudden there was a bike flying up in the air; I think he broke his chain and went over the bars.  I had to come to a stop but was able to get through and chase the pack.”

Thomas Litscher (JB Brunex Felt) jumped into the lead on the start loop, but he was quickly overtaken by Schurter and David Valero (MMR Factory) once the riders began their six laps of the course.  Valero hung on with Schurter for the first half of the race as the pair opened a gap on a chase group containing Julien Absalon (BMC), Maxime Marotte (Cannondale Factory) and Jordan Sarrou (BH-SR Suntour-KMC), but when Schurter put the hammer down on a climb the Spaniard was quickly dropped.

Schurter cruised to his 21st World Cup victory, with Valero holding on for second.  Absalon dropped the rest of the chase group to take third.

Zandstra was in the 40s for the first half of the race before starting to move up in the final few laps.  He cracked the top-30 at the start of the last lap and managed to move up two more places in the final circuit.

“I had a bit of a rough start to the season,” said Zandstra.  “I got sick around Sea Otter and I was on antibiotics as of last week, but it’s starting to turn around.  I knew I had some good fitness coming into this and training’s been good, minus the sickness.  Next week is another good race for me and I’m hoping to prove myself there.”

Other Canadian results include Leandre Bouchard (BH-SR Suntour-KMC) in 39th, Raphael Gagne (Cannondale-3Rox) in 64th, Evan McNeely (Team Canada) in 74th and Andrew L’Esperance (Team Canada) in 95th.

NOVE MESTO, May 20, 2017 – Canadian riders had mixed results on Saturday, the first day of competition at the opening round of the Mountain Bike Cross-country World Cup in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic.  Peter Disera (Norco Factory Racing) finished a strong eighth in the Under-23 Men’s race, however, Olympic bronze medalist Catharine Pendrel (Clif Bar Pro Team) suffered two mechanical incidents while in second place in the Elite Women’s race, putting her out of contention.

Disera, the Canadian Under-23 champion, had a strong start to his race, riding among the top-5 riders on the first lap and a half.  He dropped back slightly in the second half of the race but managed to retain a top-10 spot at the finish.  Petter Fagerhaug of Norway was the winner, followed by Martins Blums of Latvia.  Disera finished 1:47 behind the winner.  Other Canadian results include Sean Fincham (Team Canada) in 67th place and Marc-Andre Fortier (Team Canada) in 78th.

“I came into this race without a number in mind,” said Disera, “but I knew in the back of my mind that there was a chance I could be in the top-5 group fighting for the podium, and in the second lap I was in that group!  I held on for as long as I could, but I slipped back a little bit, although I managed to maintain top-10.  I’m not too surprised because this year has been going well and I was riding the best I have ever ridden on this course.  So I’m really pleased.”

In the Elite Women’s race, Pendrel moved into second place after the start loop, behind world champion Annika Langvad of Denmark.  On the second lap she first had a problem with her chain and then suffered a flat tire.  By the time she received assistance at the pits, she was back in the high-30s and nearly four minutes behind the leaders.  She managed to fight back to 21st by the finish.

“I felt good, this was probably the best start I’ve ever had on this course,” said Pendrel.  “I was feeling good and had good energy, and then coming through the last rock garden before the end of the lap I dropped my chain and it took three minutes to sort it out.  Then passing someone on a downhill I got a flat tire and had to ride that into the tech zone.  So luck wasn’t on my side today.  But my form is good, so that’s the positive takeaway.”

Canadian champion Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing), third on this course last year, had a poor start, dropping back to the mid-20s.  She worked her way back to finish in 17th place.  In other Canadian results, Haley Smith (Norco Factory Racing) was 28th, Sandra Walter (Team Canada) was 35th, Cindy Montambault (Team Canada) 38th and Catherine Fleury (Team Canada) 49th.