EMILY BATTY FINISHES 4TH FOR FIRST WORLD CUP PODIUM OF 2018
Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, May 28, 2018 – Canada took its first podium of the 2018 World Cup season on Sunday, with Emily Batty (Trek Factory) finishing fourth in the Elite women’s race at Round 3 in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
The women’s race quickly became a battle between two riders – Round 1 winner Denmark’s Annika Langvad and World Cup leader Jolanda Neff of Switzerland. The two went to the front on the first lap and pulled away on the climbs. France’s Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Batty had their own battle behind for third place. Langvad would outsprint Neff for the victory, while Batty could not quite close the gap to Ferrand Prevot, finishing 17 seconds back.
“Top five is pretty spectacular when you’ve had some downer months,” said Batty. “It just feels good to be able to showcase my potential. I’ve had a good result here before [bronze medal at the 2016 world championships], so I knew it was possible. This track is ‘full gas’ then full technical; it is physically so demanding … it rides a lot like Ontario! You need to be a strong rider to get a decent result here.”
Haley Smith (Norco Factory) had another strong race, finishing 14th, while Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team) fought back from a semi-flat tire that dropped her to 50th after the first lap to finish 22nd, one spot in front of Sandra Walter (Team Canada), who had her second strong weekend of racing. Other Canadian results were: Cindy Montambault in 33rd and Catherine Fleury (Team Canada) in 67th.
Langvad takes the Series lead with 798 points. Batty moves up to 10th from 13th, while Pendrel drops to 15th from 12th. Smith jumps to 22nd from 34th and Walter from 37th to 33rd. Montambault drops one spot to 40th.
In the Elite men’s race, world champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland won his second consecutive World Cup, and took over the lead in the Series.
The top Canadian for the day was, for the second week in a row, Canadian national champion Peter Disera (Norco Factory) in 45th, finishing just two spots ahead of Raphael Gagne (Silverback OMX). Disera rode consistently in the mid-40s, while Gagne moved up steadily from the mid-70s. Other Canadian results include: Leandre Bouchard (KMC-Ekoi-SR Suntour) in 68th and Andrew L’Esperance (Team Canada) in 70th.
“It was pretty nasty out there,” commented Disera. “The course is so bombed out and super powdery. It was hard on the bikes and the body; I was cramping pretty bad in the last lap. I’m definitely disappointed; last week un Albstadt was a very good performance, and this week it just didn’t come together mentally and physically.”
Schurter moves into a commanding lead in the standings with 780 points. Disera drops from 38th to 42nd and Bouchard from 39th to 52nd. Gagne moves up from 7th to 67th, and L’Esperance down to 84th from 75th.
In Under-23 races, Canadian men’s Under-23 national champion Sean Fincham (Team Canada) had a strong performance on the World Cup stage, finishing 17th on Saturday.
Fincham had a strong start and was up to 16th by the end of the first lap, in a small chase group of five going for a top-10 spot. He was up to 13th a lap later, but faded with two laps to go to drop back slightly at the finish. He moved up to 25th from 30th in the overall standings.
Other Canadian results include Marc Andre Fortier (Pivot-OTE) in 31st, Quinton Disera (Norco Factory) in 35th, Gunnar Holmgren (Team Canada) in 55th, Brody Sanderson (Team Canada) in 73rd, Felix Belhumeur (Pivot-OTE) in 86th and Raphael Auclair (Pivot-OTE) in 95th.
“We looked at my lap times from last week and I had a couple of top-10s,” explained Fincham, “so Jeff [Ain, NextGen coach] was trying to convince me this was possible and that I could do better. I suffered a bit at the end, but little bit better than last week. This is a great course for me; I had a really good race here as a Junior and I love it here, this is one of my favourite courses.”
In the Under-23 women’s race, the top Canadian was Juliette Tetreault in 29th, followed by Mackenzie Myatt (Team Canada) in 34th. Myatt had a stronger start, moving into the top-30 by the end of the first lap, but faded in the second half of the race while Tetreault was steadily moving up. Two other Canadians were in the race, with Anne Julie Tremblay (Team Canada) finishing 36th and Laurie Arseneault 38th.
Dan Proulx, national mountain bike coach, summarized the two event project: “This was a successful race campaign – Albstadt and Nova Mesto. As a program, it shows that we’re continuing to strengthen and improve in a number of different areas. Obviously, a podium from Emily Batty is a good confirmation that we’re heading in the right direction and that’s supported by the massive progression demonstrated by emerging athletes like Sean Fincham [17th at Nove Mesto], Haley Smith, and Peter Disera [22nd at Albstadt]. It was also nice to see a first year U23, Gunnar Holmgren, come here and perform strongly – setting a new team passing record at Nove Mesto. Sandra Walter also rode well and achieved a life time best [15th Albstadt]. We still have a lot of work to do but we have a good system in place and a great team that makes the learning process more efficient. I’m excited about our athletes and the potential they have.”
