May 26/18 16:52 pm - Fincham 17th in Nove Mesto
Posted by Editoress on 05/26/18
Once again, Canadian men's Under-23 national champion Sean Fincham (Team Canada) had a strong performance on the World Cup stage, finishing 17th on Saturday at Round 3 in Nove Mesto.
The Nove Mesto course is extremely dry and dusty, and faster than ever with the main climbs shortened, so they are more punchy climbs than long slogs.
The women's race quickly came down to three riders - World Cup leader, Round 2 winner and world champion Sina Frei (Ghost Factory), her team mate Malene Degn, winner of Round 1, and Marika Tovo of Italy. On the last lap, Tovo was dropped and the two Ghost riders sprinted for the win, with Frei throwing her bike at the line to take the victory.
Top Canadian was Juliette Tetreault in 29th, followed by Mackenzie Myatt (Team Canada) in 34th. Myatt had a stronger start, moving into the top-30 by the end of the first lap, but faded in the second half of the race while Tetreault was steadily moving up. Two other Canadians were in the race, with Anne Julie Tremblay (Team Canada) finishing 36th and Laurie Arseneault 38th.
Frei continues to lead the standings with 250 points, followed by Degn at 220.
The men's race saw a group of five form at the front, including Vlad Dascalu (Brujula Bike), Filippo Colombo (BMC), South African Alan Hatherly, Round 2 winner Joshua Dubau of France and World Cup leader Petter Fagerhaug of Norway. By the fourth lap it was down to Dascalu and Colombo, and on the last lap Dascalu attacked, taking the first ever Romanian World Cup win. Colombo took second and Hatherly third.
Fincham had a strong start and was up to 16th by the end of the first lap, in a small chase group of five going for a top-10 spot. He was up to 13th a lap later, but faded with two laps to go to drop back slightly at the finish. Other Canadian results include Marc Andre Fortier (Pivot-OTE) in 31st, Quinton Disera (Norco Factory) in 35th, Gunnar Holmgren (Team Canada) in 55th, Brody Sanderson (Team Canada) in 73rd, Felix Belhumeur (Pivot-OTE) in 86th and Raphael Auclair (Pivot-OTE) in 95th.
"We looked at my lap times from last week and I had a couple of top-10s," explained Fincham, "so Jeff [Ain, NextGen coach] was trying to convince me this was possible and that I could do better. I suffered a bit at the end, but little bit better than last week. This is a great course for me; I had a really good race here as a Junior and I love it here, this is one of my favourite courses."
Fagerhaug remains in the overall lead with 190 points, followed by Colombo at 137 and Dubau at 130. Fincham moved up to 25th from 30th. Fortier moves from 36th to 43rd, and Disera dropped to 44th from 37th.
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