August 30/19 21:59 pm - Fincham 11th in Under-23 Men at World Championships
Posted by Editoress on 08/30/19
Sean Fincham of Squamish, BC, was the top Canadian finisher on Friday at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, finishing 11th in a field of nearly 70 riders. The race was won by Vlad Dascalu of Romania. Fincham had a strong start, riding with the lead group of six for the first half of the race, but could not sustain the pace in the final lap. Three other Canadians finished in the top-30 - Raphael Auclair in 23rd, Quinton Disera in 25th and Tyler Orschel in 27th.
Canadian U23 gallery by Tim O'Connor
"I had a really good start and managed to make the lead group," said Fincham. "I faded, but it's been a really tough few weeks leading into the race [with illness], so I'm just stoked that I could even race, let alone come close to a normal performance. It's not my best result of the year, but I'm happy, considering what's been going on the past few weeks."
Vlad Dascalu became the first Romanian mountain bike world champion, winning the Under-23 men's cross-country in convincing fashion on a wet and muddy course. Swiss riders took the other two podium spots, with Filippo Colombo taking silver and Vital Albin in third place.
Dascalu has dominated the Under-23 category this season, and the race quickly came down to seven riders - Dascalu, Colombo, Albin, Simon Andreassen (Denmark), Chris Blevins (USA), Jofre Cullell Estape (Spain) and Sean Fincham (Canada). Rain through the night and morning ended shortly before the start of the race, but left the track slippery and muddy.
Estape was the first to attack, closely followed by Dascalu, who moved ahead before the treacherous 'Beatrice' rock garden descent. Estape crashed heavily on the 'Beatrice', eventually dropping out of the race. This left Dascalu alone at the front, and he steadily rode away to win by nearly two minutes. Andreassen and Blevins led the chase until the American faded and the Danish rider flatted. This allowed the two Swiss riders to move into the medal positions and, although both also flatted, they managed to hold on to their podium spots.
"It is really special for me and all Romanian cycling to win this world title," said Dascalu. "Estape did an attack after the feedzone on the second lap and I followed him. I got ahead of him [Estape], so I didn't realize he had crashed, and I just kept pushing full gas."
Canadian U23 gallery by Tim O'Connor
MTB World Championships: U23 Men XC results
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