July 21/24 11:45 am - Jackson & Bouchard Win Elite XCO Titles
Posted by Editoress on 07/21/24
Under hot and dry conditions, Jenn Jackson (Liv Factory) and Leandre Bouchard (Foresco Holding Proco RL) became the 2024 Canadian Elite XCO champions in Kentville, Nova Scotia, on Saturday. Jackson and Bouchard were among the 14 champions awarded Maple Leaf jerseys, spanning the Under-17, Junior, Under-23, Elite and Masters categories for women and men.
The technical course took the riders through large sections of wooded singletrack, with a long staggered climb on the way out and a descent back to the finish. The races began with a start loop around the XCC course.
Photo galleries
Women
Both Elite and Under-23 women's categories raced a start loop plus five laps, starting approximately four minutes apart. After a fairly leisurely start loop, Jackson, the defending champion, attacked early in the first lap, followed by Emilly Johnston (Trek Future), who was racing up from Under-23, and Maghalie Rochette (Canyon Collective), the recent BC Bike Race champion.
Jackson rode away from the rest of the field to beat Johnston by 3:41. Rochette had been riding with Johnston until she disappeared after two laps, the victim of a mechanical. Sandra Walter (GAPP System - Kolofix) took third, after dropping Roxane Vermette (Équipe Delta Marriott Mont-Ste-Anne) in the last two laps. Jackson accomplished the rare feat of taking both the XCC and XCO titles.
Jenn Jackson Interview
The Under-23 race followed much the same pattern, with Ava Holmgren (LIDL-Trek) dominating, finishing 2:14 in front of Marin Lowe (Pittstop Racing). Ella MacPhee (Pivot Cycles - OTE) took third. Holmgren had a remarkable ride, catching all but the front two Elite riders, despite starting roughly four minutes behind them. Her time would have put her in second in the Elite race, less than a minute off the pace of Jackson. This was Holmgren's first mountain bike title.
Ava Holmgren Interview
In the Under-17 (start loop plus three laps) and Junior women's (start loop plus four laps) races, Quebec riders dominated, taking five of six podium spots. Rafaelle Carrier led a Pivot Cycles-OTE sweep in the Junior race, ahead of team mates Lily-Rose Marois and Maude Ruelland. The Under-17 title went to Eliane Blais (Équipe du Québec -VPDH), followed by Élodie Malois (Équipe du Québec - ACQ), with only Ontario's Elly Moore (Collingwood Collective) in third preventing another Quebec 1-2-3.
Rafaelle Carrier
Eliane Blais
Men
The Elite men raced a start loop plus six laps, while the Under-23s did two start loops and five laps. Bouchard went to the front near the end of the start loop, upping the pace such that only Carter Woods (Giant Factory) was able to stay with him after a lap, and Woods was dropped a lap later. Behind Woods a chase group of three formed - Logan Sadesky (Broad Street Offroad), Victor Verreault (Foresco Holding Proco RL) and Tyler Orschel (Pan American Racing Union). These three would ride together all race, with Sadesky winning the three-way sprint out of the last corner to take third ahead of Verreault and Orschel. At the front, Bouchard kept up the pressure, slowly increasing his lead by a few seconds every lap, to eventually beat Woods by 42 seconds. It is Bouchard's eighth national title, but only his second in the Elite XCO.
Leandre Bouchard Interview
In the Under-23 race, Cole Punchard (Pivot Cycles-OTE) added the XCO title to the combined Under-23 / Elite XCC title he won on Thursday. Punchard, who has been finishing top-5 on the World Cup circuit, rode away from a chase group of three - Noah Ramsay (Bateman's Bike Co), Owen Clark (Hockley Valley Resort Armada) and Zorak Paille (Pivot Cycles - OTE). Ramsay dropped Clark and Paille to take second, with Clark distancing Paille in the final kilometre to take third.
Cole Punchard Interview
The Junior (start loop plus four laps) and Under-17 men's (start loop plus three laps) races were the most tightly contested of the day. Jacob Roy (Ponsse MTB Racing) won by less than ten seconds over his race-long companion Felix Antoine Leclair (Siboire QuiRoule) in the Junior men, with Nicolas Gauthier (Ride with Rendall p/b Biemme) finishing third. The Under-17 men's race came down to a sprint finish and a bike throw for Emilien Belzile (Stimulus Orbea) to beat Ethan Wood (Charge BC XC), with Evan Moore (Collingwood Collective) finishing third at 11 seconds.
Jacob Roy
Emilien Belzile
XCO Results
XCC Photos
XCC Results
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