Lenzerheide, Switzerland (August 30, 2018) – Cycling Canada has announced the team of 44 riders who will represent Canada at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in the XCO (cross-country) and Downhill events. The Championships will be held in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on September 5-9.  This is the first world championships within the qualifying period for the 2020 Olympics, so the stakes go beyond racing for the medals, as nations begin to collect valuable ranking points for athlete quotas.

“We’re really excited about this year’s team,” said Dan Proulx, Mountain Bike Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “It’s a nice mix of rookies and experienced riders. We have a good team dynamic in this group already, which will certainly help us create an environment that is conducive to personal best performances. We hope to build off the momentum we had at last year’s World Championships in Australia.”

The team includes the reigning national champions for every category. In the Elite women, two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Catharine Pendrel will be coming back from an early season injury, while national champion Emily Batty is having one of the best seasons of her career, with three podium results so far in the World Cup. Other top-20 World Cup riders are Haley Smith and Sandra Walter.

The Elite men’s squad is led by World Cup riders Leandre Bouchard and national champion Peter Disera, a former world championship silver medalist as a Junior rider.

Junior Women – XCO
Mireille Larose-Gingras – Lac Beauport, QC
Eva Poidevin – Canmore, AB
Marianne Théberge – Levis, QC
Roxane Vermette – St-Ferrol-les-Neiges, QC

Junior Men – XCO
Tyler Clark – King City, ON
Holden Jones – Squamish, BC
Charles-Antoine St-Onge – Saint-Denis-de-Brompton, QC
Carter Woods – Cumberland, BC
Colton Woods – Barrie, ON

Under-23 Women – XCO
Laurie Arseneault – Terrebonne, QC
Mackenzie Myatt – Musquodoboit Harbour, NS
Juliette Tétreault – Val-des-Monts, QC
Emily Unterberger – Revelstoke, BC

Under-23 Men – XCO
Raphaël Auclair – Haut-Saint-Charles, QC
Quinton Disera – Horseshoe Valley, ON
Sean Fincham – Squamish, BC
Marc-André Fortier – Victoriaville, QC
Gunnar Holmgren – Orillia, ON

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

Elite Men – XCO
Léandre Bouchard – Alma, QC
Peter Disera – Horseshoe Valley, ON
Raphaël Gagné – Quebec City, QC
Andrew L’Esperance – Halifax, NS

In the Downhill category, Team Canada includes the current Elite women’s Downhill world champion, Miranda Miller, and former Junior men’s world cup champion Finn Iles. Miller just finished 14th overall in the season-long World Cup, while Mark Wallace was 14th in Elite men and Iles was 15th. In the Junior men’s category, Lucas Cruz was seventh overall, including three top-10 performances.

Junior Men – DH
Justin Clements – Calgary, AB
Lucas Cruz – Pemberton, BC
Keegan Fry – Rossland, BC
Elliot Jamieson – White Rock, BC
Kendall McLean – Victoria, BC
Ian Milley – Squamish, BC
Ben Wallace – North Vancouver, BC

Elite Men – DH
Henry Fitzgerald – Vancouver, BC
Finn Iles – Whistler, BC
Magnus Manson – Sechelt, BC
Forrest Riesco – Sunshine Coast, BC
Luke Stevens – Revelstoke, BC
Mark Wallace – Duncan, BC

Elite Women – DH
Miranda Miller – Garibaldi, BC
Rachel Pageau – Chicoutimi, QC

Mont-Sainte-Anne, QC (August 13, 2018) – Canadian champion Emily Batty of Brooklin, Ontario, flew the Canadian colours at home on Sunday, with a third place finish in the Elite women’s cross-country Mountain Bike World Cup in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec. This was Batty’s fourth podium in six races, and moved her up from eighth to fourth in the standings with one race remaining in the series.

Batty overcame a poor start to move up to eighth by the end of the first lap and fourth by the end of the second in the six lap race. She moved into third place on the fifth lap and came within 14 seconds of catching second place Annika Langvad of Denmark. The race was won by world champion Jolanda Neff of Switzerland.

Showing the depth of the Canadian women’s field, Haley Smith of Uxbridge, Ontario, had her best result ever at a World Cup, finishing eighth, while four-time Mont-Ste-Anne winner Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, BC, was 16th in her first race back from suffering an injury in June.

“I love racing here,” said Batty. “The energy from the Canadian fans is so empowering. I didn’t have a good first lap, so it was just a matter of trying to get by as many people as I could; climbing the climbs as hard as I could, and not making mistakes in the singletrack. I was giving everything I could to catch Annika, but I just came up a little bit short. I’m really proud to get Canada in the top three spots.”

In other Canadian results, Canadian Under-23 men’s champion Sean Fincham of Squamish, BC, finished tenth in the Under-23 men’s race, while Raphael Gagne of Quebec City was the top Canadian in the Elite men, finishing 25th.

Full results: https://bit.ly/2nxXwv3

Mont-Sainte-Anne, QC (August 8, 2018) – The Mountain Bike World Cup returns once again to Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, on August 10-12, for Round 6 of both the Cross-country (XCO) and Downhill (DHI) series. Mont-Sainte-Anne is the only North American stop on the World Cup tour, and is the site of many legendary races, dating back to the beginning of the World Cup in 1991. It is the only venue to have been on the World Cup circuit since the beginning; missing twice when it hosted the world championships instead.

Canada will have a strong presence for both the XCO and DHI events, with a total of 67 athletes across both disciplines. Unlike World Cups outside of North America, Canada will not field a national squad, with most riders racing in their trade team colours; however, a few NextGen XCO athletes and Downhill riders will race in the maple leaf uniform since they do not have the requisite UCI points to participate otherwise.

Competition begins on Friday with qualifying runs in the Downhill and the fifth round of the new XCC – Short Track – competition for XCO riders. In the XCC, the top-40 women and men on UCI ranking each race for 20 minutes on a short course, with the top 16 finishers filling the first two rows for the following XCO race. In addition, the XCC offers half World Cup points.

Mont-Sainte-Anne has made some changes to the courses, as they prepare to host the world championships in 2019 – the first venue to host the world championships three times. While traditional features such as the Beatrice descent remain, the start-finish has been moved so that the riders now face a final climb to the finish.

Canada’s hopes in the Elite women’s XCO will be led by Emily Batty (Trek Factory), fresh off winning her fourth national title and already on the World Cup podium three times this year. Mont-Sainte-Anne will also see the return to competition of two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team), who has been out of action since June recovering from a broken arm. Other Canadian riders to watch out for are Haley Smith (Norco Factory) and Sandra Walter (Liv Canada), both of whom have become regular top-20 World Cup contenders this season.

The Elite men’s field will be led by world champion and World Cup leader Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM). Canada has four riders currently sitting in the top-50:  Leandre Bouchard (KMC-Ekoi-SR Suntour), Andrew L’Esperance (Forward Racing Norco), national champion Peter Disera (Norco Factory) and Raphael Gagne (Silverback OMX).

The Downhill at Mont-Sainte-Anne is one of the longest on the circuit, requiring both endurance and technical skill. In the women’s race, Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Vallnord) returns to competition after missing the previous two rounds after a training crash. She will go up against World Cup leader Rachel Atherton (Trek Factory) and Tahnee Seagrave (Transition/MUC-Off), who has won the last two rounds. Canada’s Miranda Miller (Specialized), reigning world champion, has struggled this season, but can be expected to show the rainbow stripes, as will new national champion Vaea Verbeeck.

In Elite men, Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Vallnord) has a strong lead in the overall standings with three wins, however, defending champion Aaron Gwin (The YT Mob) is returning to competition after taking time off for a hand injury. Top Canadian contenders are Finn Iles (Specialized) and Mark Wallace (Canyon Factory), ranked 12th and 13th respectively.

Panorama, BC (July 30, 2018) – BC riders took all four of the Elite and Junior titles on Sunday at the 2018 Canadian Downhill Championships in Panorama, BC. Vaea Verbeeck (Rocky Mtn/Deity/Shimano), the 2014 national champion, won the women’s title, while Magnus Manson (Canyon) won the men’s.

More than 200 riders took part in the Championships, with Canadian maple leaf jerseys awarded for both women and men in Under-17, Junior (17-18), Elite (19+) and Masters age group categories (30-39, 40-49 and 50+ for men, and 30+ for women).

“A big thanks to everyone involved in making the 2018 Canadian Championships a great success,” said Josh Peacock, Competitions Coordinator at Cycling Canada. “The organization presented a top-notch event and the staff at Panorama Mountain Resort went the extra mile to create some amazing new trails which challenged Canada’s best. We are very excited to return to Panorama for the 2019 edition of the Championships, which will include the Enduro for the first time.”

It is the first Elite title for Manson, who qualified fifth on Saturday, but won an extremely tight competition in the final for the men’s title. The three medalists were separated by only 36/100ths of a second, with Manson recording 3:04.77, silver medalist Hugo Langevin (Devinci Development Team) only two-hundredths of a second back and bronze medalist Mark Wallace (Canyon Factory) at 36/100ths of a second. Defending champion Kirk McDowall (Dunbar Cycles Devinci) had qualified first, but crashed in the final.

“I’m stoked, this is what you go for,” said Manson. “The level in Canada has gone up so much; there are tons of guys qualifying for World Cups and a few years ago that wasn’t happening. I love this track, it’s got everything; there’s rocks, there’s roots, there’s dust, it’s a fun track.”

In the women’s race, Verbeeck qualified first, followed by defending Canadian champion and reigning world champion Miranda Miller (Specialized). The final was the same, with Verbeeck’s winning time of 3:34.41, 4.90 seconds faster than Miller.  B.C.’s Georgia Astle finished third, a further 6.91 seconds back.

“It feels awesome to win the title,” said Verbeeck.  “It’s been four years since I won, and winning with Miranda competing is super sweet. I have huge respect for her. I loved the new parts of the course; it’s closer to what a World Cup course is like.”

In the Junior women’s competition, BC-based Spanish rider Ainhoa Ijurko was the top finisher, but ineligible for the title, with second placed Piper Allman the new champion. In the Junior men’s race, World Cup rider Lucas Cruz (Trek BC Devo) won the title ahead of Ian Milley.

Canmore, AB (July 23, 2018) – The 2018 Canadian XCO Championships concluded on Sunday with the Team Relay at the Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta. Team B.C. #1 took the title, a slim four seconds ahead of defending champions Norco Factory Racing.

The Team Relay consists of teams of four riders from different categories each racing a lap of the cross-country circuit before handing off to the next rider on the team. Each team must include at least one woman and no more than one Elite man.

The race quickly came down to three teams – B.C. #1, Norco and Pivot-OTE.  Pivot-OTE (Raphael Auclair) took the lead on the first lap, followed by Norco (Quinton Disera) and B.C. #1 (Carter Woods), and continued to hold after two laps. However, B.C. #1’s Holden Jones rocketed through the field on the third lap to put his team in the lead by a few seconds as he handed off to the final rider – national men’s Under-23 champion Sean Fincham, who was up against Elite national champion Peter Disera of Norco.

Fincham started the lap only five seconds ahead of Disera, and the pair battled all lap. Disera would close to within a few metres of Fincham only to have to back off, allowing the gap to open again.  At the finish, the gap remained four seconds. Pivot-OTE completed the podium.