August 13/23 7:15 am - Jenn Jackson Top Canadian at MTB XCO, Top-10s for Para Road
Posted by Editoress on 08/13/23
The mountain bike portion of the world championships concluded on Saturday with the Elite women's and men's cross-country races. Pauline Ferrand Prevot of France repeated as the women's champion, while Tom Pidcock took a very popular home win in the men's race. Jenn Jackson was the top Canadian finishers, 24th in the women's race. In the men's race Gunnar Holmgren was the top Canadian in 42nd. (Full mountain bike report below)
In other Canadian result for Saturday, BMX Racing saw Keira Murphy (Junior Women) and Molly Simpson (Women Elite) both qualify for Sunday's quarterfinals. On the men's side, Ryan Tougas (Elite Men) Dylan Tremel (Men U23) and Curtis Krey (Men U23) all rode the 1/8 Finals,, with only Krey making it through to the quarterfinals.
In the Para road races, Alexandre Hayward (Men C3) and Mel Pemble (Women C3) had the best Canadian results, with Hayward in fifth and Pemble in sixth in their respective road races. After a bronze medal in the Individual Time Trial on Thursday, Keely Shaw (Women C4) was ninth-place in the road race. In Tandem road race competition, Carla Shibley and her pilot Meghan Brown (Women B) were tenth, while Lowell Taylor and Ed Veal (Men B) were 11th.
The Under-23 men's road race saw two Canadians finish - Riley Pickrell in 48th and Philippe Jacob in 58th. Michael Leonard did not finish.
In Cycle Ball, the Canadian duo of Benoît Fisch and Patrice Lavoie lost their final game against Hungary, and finished sixth overall.
Mountain Bike Report
Rain was forecast for the final day of mountain biking, and it did rain through the night and early morning leading up to the races. However, the rain ended before the women's race started and, except for one brief shower at the end of the women's race, it remained dry. Large sections of the track were wet and muddy, particularly in the woods where many of the technical features were.
France's Loana Lecomte quickly took the lead in the women's race, but Ferrand Prevot charged across to her on the final climb of the first lap and went straight to the front, pulling away to easily take the title. Lecomte held on for second, while Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) won the bronze, holding off a late charge by Mona Mitterwallner (Austria).
Elite Women XCO Photo Gallery
Canada had three starters - Jackson, Laurie Arseneault and Sandra Walter. Arseneault crashed early in the first lap on one of the technical sections, and did not finish, while Walter finished 50th. Jackson rode conservatively for the first half of the race before starting to move forward in the final three laps.
"I decided to just chill during the first three laps," explained Jackson, "not chase people, but not lose spots either. Then, I started to work my way up in the later laps. I'm happy with my result, it's my best ever European result at Worlds or World Cups."
In the men's race, there was great anticipation for a battle between defending champion Nino Schurter (Switerland), Olympic champion Pidcock, and new Road world champion Mathieu van der Poel. However, van der Poel slid out in the last corner of the start loop, landing on the same side as his crash in the road race, and retired from the race. Nevertheless, the race proved to be a classic.
Pidcock, starting well back [due to lack of mountain bike ranking points] exited the start loop in 30th place. He had the fastest first two lap splits, joining Schurter, Alan Hatherly (South Africa) and Jordan Sarrou (France) at the front by the end of Lap 2. Sarrou was already fading, and Hatherly began to falter on Lap 5. Meanwhile, XCC world champion Sam Gaze (New Zealand) was making a charge up through the field, eighth by the end of Lap 4 and fourth by the end of Lap 5.
It was on Lap 6 that Pidcock attacked and, for once, the legendary Schurter could not respond. The British rider continue to extend his lead to the finish line, but Schurter was facing another problem - Gaze caught him on Lap 7 and then rode away on the final lap. This was a Nino Schurter fans were unaccustomed to seeing, one that could not respond to the attacks of his rivals. Schurter did manage to hang on for the bronze medal, nine seconds ahead of Victor Koretzky (France).
Gunnar Holmgren had a very strong start, making it up to 18th by the end of the start loop, and still in 20th after the first lap. In the second lap, the pace caught up with him and he began to drop back, to eventually finish 42nd. Peter Disera finished 51st, Sean Fincham 54th, and Leandre Bouchard 60th.
"I haven't had the best starts this season," explained Holmgren, " so I really focussed a lot on that in the pre-rides, choosing my line and analyzing the [earlier] races. I nailed it and was almost into the top-20 after the start loop [actually 18th]. I was riding strong and held it for a lap or two, and then my legs just couldn't hold it. At the top of the first climb I was empty every single lap. That was a hard fight. It wasn't the best result, but the way I executed my race was the best I could do today, so I'm really happy with that."
Gunnar Interview on FB
Photo Galleries
Para Athletes Win 2 More Medals for Canada, Johnston 4th in MTB
5 Medal Day for Canada at Worlds
Holmgren and Lowe go 1-2 at Jr MTB Worlds, Ackert Takes Bronze
MTB World Championships: Short Track results and photos
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