BLUE MOUNTAIN HOSTS ROUND 2 OF DOWNHILL CANADA CUP

One day after the third round of the cross-country Canada Cup took place in Quebec, it was the turn of the Downhillers, for Round 2 of their Canada Cup series, the Eastern Challenge held at Blue Mountain, Ontario.

In the Elite Women’s race, American Ella Skalwold (Vermont Mtn Bike Tours/POC/RaceFace) was the winner in her first race of the Series, finishing with a time of three minutes and 11.2 seconds.  Audrée Valliancourt (Pivot Cycles/Trees/FiveTen) of Quebec was second, 23.4 seconds back, followed by Round 1 winner Sarah Konefal (Independent) of Quebec, 34.6 seconds behind Skalwold.  Konefal continues to lead the standings with 355 points, followed by Valliancourt at 350 and Maxine Bergeron (Team Laferte/Trou du Diable) with 285 points.

In the Elite Men’s category, defending champion Hugo Langevin (Devinci/Troy Lee/Cycle St-Onge/S4) of Quebec was the fastest, finishing with a time of two minutes and 18.1 seconds.  Fellow Quebecers Jonathan Lafrancois (Devinci) finished second, a slim 0.1 seconds back, with Philipe Ricard (Major Cycles/Devinci) at 1.7 seconds.  Lafrancois moves into the lead with 350 points after finishing second in both rounds.  Benjamin Depres-Morin (Norco Bicycles) is second with 295 points and Ricard moves into third with 290 points.

The Downhill series will now take a hiatus until the Canada Cup Final on August 19th when the Canadian Open will take place in Whistler, BC.