Cairns, AUS, September 6, 2017 – Team Canada opened the Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia, with a tenth place performance on Wednesday in the Team Relay.  Switzerland won the title ahead of Denmark and France.

For 2017 the Team Relay made a significant change to the format, adding a fifth rider to each team.  Now, each squad must include a Junior or Under-23 woman, in addition to an Elite man and woman, Under-23 man and Junior man.

Canada started with Under-23 rider Peter Disera, who got caught up in traffic on the opening lap and finished 11th, 46 seconds behind New Zealand.  Raphael Gagne, Canada’s Elite man, moved up significantly on the second lap to put Canada into fifth place as he handed off to Junior man Holden Jones, who put in a blazing lap to move Canada into the lead as he handed off to Elite woman Catharine Pendrel.

Pendrel extended Canada’s lead to a minute going into the final lap as she handed off to Under-23 woman Anne-Julie Tremblay.  However, Tremblay faced an impossible task, with Olympic and reigning world champion Nino Schurter leading a group of Elite and Under-23 men after her.

“Our strategy first and foremost was to give each rider a chance to do a dress rehearsal on the course,” explained Dan Proulx, Mountain Bike Head Coach at Cycling Canada.  “Our second goal was to be top eight, but with the new format we weren’t sure how it would play out and now we know we are top-10 at this time.  Raph [Gagne] had a really good ride to get us into top five and then Holden Jones had the most amazing ride; he just did a stellar job.  Our last rider was Anne-Julie, and we gave her the toughest job you could imagine, with eight or ten of the best men right behind her.  She rode her heart out.  So, overall we were a little short on our objective goal, but it was still a phenomenal start to Worlds for us.”

Ottawa, August 17, 2017 – Cycling Canada is pleased to announce the team of 46 riders that will represent Canada at the Mountain Bike World Championships, to be held in Cairns, Australia, on September 5-10.

Team Canada includes an Olympic medalist, former and current world champions, plus some of Canada’s most promising riders for the future.  The Cross-country (XCO) contingent consists of 28 athletes in the Junior, Under-23 and Elite categories for men and women, while the Downhill (DHI) team of 18 athletes includes Elite men and women and Junior men.

Dan Proulx, Mountain Bike Head Coach at Cycling Canada, said, “We’re really excited about this year’s Worlds team. There are so many new faces and so much new energy. We have a lot of clubs, teams, provinces and coaches to thank. They’re building good programs and good athletes. We’re getting better riders at an earlier age and this holds great promise for the future!”

“In a post-Olympic year, we try to keep the pressure low for our established international riders. It’s a year to focus on building long term fitness gains and keeping things light and fun. We have a progression plan aimed at success at Tokyo 2020.  We’ll start the qualification process for those Games next year. It’s an exciting time for our program.”

The XCO team is headed by professional riders Catharine Pendrel and Emily Batty on the women’s side, and Leandre Bouchard and Raphael Gagne on the men’s side.  Pendrel won the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics last year and is a two-time world champion, while Batty is the defending bronze medalist at the world championships and finished fourth in Rio.  Both Bouchard and Gagne represented Canada at the Rio Games last year.  Other names to watch for are the Disera brothers, Peter and Quinton, in the Under-23 men’s category; both have finished in the top-5 on the World Cup circuit this season.

The Downhill team is led by the phenomenal Finnley Iles in the Junior men’s category.  Iles is the defending world champion, and has won five of six World Cups so far this season, making him the 2017 World Cup overall champion with one race still remaining.  In Elite men, Mark Wallace is currently ranked eighth overall in the World Cup, with three-top-10 results this season.  In Elite women, national champion Miranda Miller is currently ninth overall in the World Cup and Vaea Verbeeck is tenth.

“This year’s Worlds will give some up and coming riders an opportunity to show their colours” explains Jacques Landry, Chief Technical Officer – Head Coach at Cycling Canada.  “As we start down the road to Tokyo, we are focussing on working with new talent brought to us by the great work of our provinces. Our Development Coaches, Ian (Hughes) and Jeff (Ain), closely supported by Dan (Proulx), have got some great talent to work with as they all prepare for the great learning opportunity that is the Mountain Bike Worlds.”

“With our focus on development until we hit the Olympic qualification period, our top level mountain bike riders have the opportunity to take some pressure off in order to be rested for future Tokyo-focussed strategies. While podiums are always great, these Worlds are aimed at learning for future podium performances.”

XCO

Elite Women
Emily Batty – Brooklin, ON
Rebecca Beaumont – Alma, QC
Catherine Fleury – Saint-Gedeon, QC
Cindy Montambault – Val-David, QC
Catharine Pendrel – Kamloops, BC
Haley Smith – Uxbridge, ON
Sandra Walter – Coquitlam, BC

Elite Men
Leandre Bouchard – Alma, QC
Raphael Gagne – Quebec City, QC
Andrew L’Esperance – Halifax, NS
Evan McNeely – Kingston, ON
Derek Zandstra – Belleville, ON

U23 Women
Jenn Jackson – Oro Medonte, ON
Soren Meeuwisse – Oro Medonte, ON
Anne-Julie Tremblay – Chicoutimi, QC

U23 Men
Raphael Auclair – Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Peter Disera – Horseshoe Valley, ON
Quinton Disera – Horseshoe Valley, ON
Marc-Andre Fortier – Victoriaville, QC
Sean Fincham – Squamish, BC
Junior Women
Dana Gilligan – Oro Medonte, ON
Leya Masson – St-Ferrol-les-Neiges, QC
Sidney McGill – Edmonton, AB
Roxanne Vermette – St-Ferrol-les-Neiges, QC

Junior Men
Tyler Clark – King City, ON
Gunnar Holmgren – Orillia, ON
Holden Jones – Squamish, BC
Brody Sanderson – Oro Medonte, ON

DH

Elite Women
Georgia Astle – Whistler, BC
Laurie Citynski – Vancouver, BC
Michelle Griffiths – Winlaw, BC
Miranda Miller – Garibaldi, BC
Vaea Verbeeck – West Vancouver, BC

Elite Men
Lee Jackson – Squamish, BC
Magnus Manson – Sechelt, BC
Kirk McDowall – Anmore, BC
Samuel Thibault – Chambly, QC
Mark Wallace – Duncan, BC

Junior Men
Finn Iles (automatic selection) – Whistler, BC
Blake Bunting – Vancouver, BC
Joshua Fultz-Veinotte – Canmore, AB
Kendall McLean – Victoria, BC
Cole Mooney – North Vancouver, BC
Anthony Poulson – St-Constant, QC
Jacob Stefiuk – North Vancouver, BC
Ben Wallace – North Vancouver, BC

WINNIPEG, August 4, 2017 – The mountain bike events at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, concluded on Thursday with the women’s and men’s sprint elimination competition.  Anne-Julie Tremblay of Quebec took her third gold medal in as many events in the women’s race, while Rhys Verner of British Columbia won his second gold medal in the men’s.

The Sprint is a fast and exciting mountain bike event.  After a seeding run around the short and technical course, riders raced in heats, with the top riders from each heat moving on to the next round, culminating in the medal final for six riders.

Tremblay, who won the Cross-country on Sunday and was part of the winning Quebec squad in the Team Relay on Tuesday, won both her quarter final and semi-final rides.  In the final, it was a close race between Tremblay, Mackenzie Myatt (Nova Scotia) and Jenn Jackson (Ontario).  Tremblay beat Myatt by one second, with Jackson a further second behind.  It was the first mountain bike medal for Nova Scotia.

“I think this was more stressful than the cross-country,” said Tremblay, “because you are always racing and there is no rest.  But it’s really fun because it is full gas the whole race.  It is not my first time racing this, because I won the Canadian championship last year.”

In the men’s competition, Verner swept through his quarter and semi-finals to make the medal race.  Verner had already won a gold medal as part of the winning B.C. Team Relay squad on Tuesday.  In the Final, Verner held off Alberta’s Isaac Niles by a slim second, with cross-country gold medalist Felix Burke of Quebec taking bronze.

“I’ve done a few Sprints before,” admitted Verner.  “Three times at national championships and this is my second one at Canada Games.  At nationals I’ve taken gold, silver and bronze, and today I had big goals, so I’m glad to pull it off.  I like the sprint events; it’s fun for spectators and it’s all out from the gun.  It’s full on racing.”

Mathieu Boucher, Performance Development Director at Cycling Canada, said, “we are extremely happy with the execution of the mountain bike events.  The team here really stepped up and help us to deliver three days of great racing.  Teams are happy with the courses and the services that were provided, and we had awesome performances from all the provinces.  We now want to make sure that this mountain bike venue will be a legacy for years to come for the Manitoba Cycling Association, so that we can help them build quality programs here.”

WINNIPEG, August 2, 2017 – After a one day break, mountain bike competition resumed on Tuesday at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the Team Relay events for women and men.  Quebec added their second victory in the women’s event, while British Columbia took their first cycling win in the men’s race.  Teams consisted of two or three riders, with each rider handing off to the next after doing a lap of the cross-country course.

Ontario took the lead on the first lap of the women’s race, with national Under-23 champion Jenn Jackson followed by Nova Scotia and Quebec.  Quebec’s Marine Lewis managed to move into second place before handing off to their next rider, however, Ontario’s Dana Gilligan extended her province’s lead on the second lap.  Gilligan handed off to Soren Meeuwisse, with Quebec having Anne-Julie Tremblay, the winner of the XCO title, as their anchor rider.  Tremblay set one of the fastest lap times of the race to overtake Meeuwisse and give Quebec their second title.  British Columbia took bronze.

“I just wanted to go consistently, without a lot of stress,” explained Tremblay.  “I rode like I did in the XCO.  It was a big gap [to Meeuwisse at the start of the lap] but when I came to the climb I saw her and I knew the gold medal was possible.”

The men’s race saw Quebec take the lead on the opening lap, followed by British Columbia and Ontario.  Quebec continued to lead on the second lap, extending their lead to 16 seconds as they began their final lap with Felix Longpre.  However, BC’s third rider was Sean Fincham, the recently crowned Under-23 national champion, who set the fastest lap time of the day, overtaking Longpre to give British Columbia the win. Ontario took the bronze medal.

“I didn’t have a strategy,” admitted Fincham, ” but I saw that we were about 15 seconds back.  My plan was to try in each section to get a second here, a second there, and slowly work my way up.  I think I did exactly that, I didn’t go too fast and burn out.  I caught him, sat behind for a little bit, and then attacked.  I got a gap and then just knew I had to hold it to the line.”

Josh Peacock, Competitions Coordinator at Cycling Canada, said, “today went very well.  We knew it would be a battle between B.C., Ontario and Quebec, and it certainly was.  The teams fought the whole way and we had exciting finishes in each race, and that’s all you can ask for.”

The first official day of training started today for athletes taking part in the Mountain Bike competitions and many were surprised to find that the course had been considerably changed and improved since the test event. The hill, which is located on the outskirts of Winnipeg, was built from scratch several years ago, and tons of man-made features have been added since then.  

According to the course designer, Alex Man, whose daughter will be racing this weekend “We started having discussions around building a Mountain Bike course several years ago, and then we found out that Winnipeg would be hosting the Canada Games. We designed the course with the help of Matt Hadley and purposefully built the trails so that they would be challenging for the athletes. There are many ride arounds, steep climbs and A and B lines to make sure that experienced and less experienced riders both enjoy the course.”

Soren Meeuwisse from Team Ontario says, “I am impressed with what they have created with such a little hill available. There are uphill and downhill features challenging enough for this level of competition. I’m excited to race it, but I think tactics will come into play a lot with a course this fast, that offers little climbing and lots of open sections.”

The 6 kilometer course will give spectators the chance to see the athletes climb up and down the hill several times per lap, with many different areas offering a full view of the course. So far, athletes seem to agree that the race will be a strategic one.  

“The course will be challenging to race in a different way from most. The track is wide which will allow many passing opportunities and for the wind to play a decisive role as the race unfolds. There are also some technical features which could potentially take people off guard, especially when people are riding hard,” commented Gunnar Holmgren, who won the Junior Men’s Canada Cup title this season.

World Cup Elite athlete Anne-Julie Tremblay thought the course was “very technical, which is good for me. It’s very smooth and there aren’t too many challenging climbs, so I’m pleased.”

Mountain Bike competitions for both men and women start this Sunday at Bison Butte with the XCO event, where the first medals of the Canada Games will be awarded.