SMITH & DISERA TAKE OPENING CANADA CUP WINS
Victoria, BC (March 31, 2019) – The Canadian mountain bike season opened on Saturday at the Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, BC, with the now traditional first round of the Canada Cup XCO series at the Bear Mountain Bike Festival. The Canada Cup has been the career starting point for many of Canada’s top professional and Olympic riders, and attracted most of Canada’s top pros for this edition.
Weather conditions were almost perfect, and a record number of entrants took part in both the UCI C1 sanctioned Canada Cup categories and in age group categories ranging from Under-13 to 50-plus.
The powerful Norco Factory Team took both the Elite titles, with Haley Smith winning the women’s race and Peter Disera the men’s. Both riders rode at the front of the race from the first lap, steadily opening a gap on the rest of the field to solo in to victory, with Smith beating three-time defending champion Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team), with Laurie Arseneault (ACQ) taking third.
“It has been a strong start to my season,” said Smith. “I didn’t really expect to go this well, but I’m racing as hard as I can and having fun. It’s a well-known rule that the first 20 minutes are the hardest, so if I could just stay away for the first couple of laps, hopefully the gap could grow, and that’s what happened.”
In the men’s race, Disera, the defending champion, quickly opened a gap on a chase group consisting of Raphael Gagne (Equipe du Quebec), Gunnar Holmgren (Hardwood Nextwave) and Leandre Bouchard (Pivot-OTE). Disera rode alone through the race to take the win, with Holmgren and Gagne chasing together until the final lap, when Gagne dropped his rival to take second. Holmgren faded in the last half lap and was overtaken by Bouchard for third.
In the Junior categories, Emilly Johnston (Pendrel Racing) and Carter Woods (Rocky Mountain Factory) completely dominated their races to win. The Under-17 event saw Nicole Bradbury (NCCH p/b MGCC) win the women’s title and Erik Ashton (Trail Bicycles) take the men’s.
