October 1/24 8:44 am - Canadian U23 Riders Take Wins at MTB World Cup

Posted by Editoress on 10/1/24
 

Canadian riders won both the women's and men's Under-23 XCO races on Saturday at the penultimate round of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Lake Placid, New York. Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), showed off her new world champion stripes in the women's race to take her fourth victory of the season (as well as finishing second in the XCC), while Canadian national champion Cole Punchard (Pivot Cycles - OTE) won the first World Cup of his career in the men's race.

The Under-23 women's race had eight riders in a tight group after the first lap, before Holmgren rode away from the rest of the field on Lap 2, when she recorded the only sub-11:30 lap of the race. She had 37 seconds on World Cup leader Kira Böhm (Cube Factory) at the end of Lap 2, who was in a three-way battle for the remaining medal spots with Ginia Caluori (Wilier-Vittoria Factory) and Madigan Munro (Trek Factory - Pirelli), finishing over a minute in front by the end of the race - Böhm, Caluori and Munro finished in that order. Holmgren has raced only four of the seven World Cups - winning all four -  but has no chance to catch Böhm for the title, with the German rider having already mathematically wrapped up the title. Holmgren is currently fourth overall, with a chance to move as high as second in the overall standings after the final round in Mont-Ste-Anne Quebec, this coming weekend.







Emilly Johnston (Trek Future) managed get as high as fifth at one point before falling back slightly to finish eighth, while Ella MacPhee (Pivot Cycles - OTE) had the best World Cup result of her career to move up from 12th on Lap 1 to fifth by the race finish. In other Canadian results, Nicole Bradbury was 27th, Anabelle Drouin 32nd, Jocelyn Stel 34th, Ella Myers 36th, Catryana Marcotte 37th and Marie-Fay St-Onge 38th. Johnston sits fifth in the overall standings, with MacPhee eighth.

In the Under-23 men's race, Punchard was in a battle at the front of the race with Dario Lillo (Giant Factory) until mid-race, when Lillo suffered a flat. Punchard set the fastest split for four of the seven laps as he roared away from the rest of the field to take the win. Lillo dropped to fourth before he managed to get a wheel change in the pits, but recovered to take second, in a sprint with Alex Malacarne Jr (Trinity Racing) and World Cup leader Riley Amos (Trek Factory - Pirelli). Amos has an insurmountable lead in the standings with one round to go, while Punchard jumped from 12th to seventh with his win.







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Other Canadian results include Owen Clark in seventh, Noah Ramsay 11th, Ian Ackert (Trek Future) 22nd, Zorak Paille (Pivot Cycles - OTE) 25th, Alexander Woodford 44th, Xavier Roy 52nd, Cam McCallum 53rd, Maxime St-Onge 66th, Soren Josiah Weselake 70th, Raphael Piche 76th and Mika Comaniuk (Pittstop Racing) 81st. Owen Clark jumped to 21st from 31st in the overall standings.

In the Elite races on Sunday, National champion Jenn Jackson (Liv Factory) was the top Canadian for the women in 24th, with the race won in a four-way battle by Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory) over team mate Sina Frei (Specialized Factory), Loana Lecomte (Canyon Collective) and Candice Lille. Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) was ninth, and has all but mathematically wrapped up the title (she needs to score only nine points in Mont-Ste-Anne). Jackson moves up one spot to 18th in the standings.







For the men, National champion Leandre Bouchard (Foresco Holding Proco RL) was the top Canadian in 26th place. Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory) had his best weekend of the season, with wins in both the XCC and XCO; the latter during a nine-way battle that saw the top nine all within 17 seconds at the finish, and the top-4 within one second at the finish line. Koretzky beat new world champion and World Cup leader Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory), Filippo Colombo (Scott-SRAM) and Marcel Guerrini (Bixs Performance) for the win. Hatherly still holds a strong lead in the overall standings, but if Koretzky has another weekend like this one at Mont-Ste-Anne, it could be a potential upset for the title. Olympian Gunnar Holmgren (KMC Ridley), 64th in Lake Placid, remains the top ranked Canadian overall in 37th place.

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Lake Placid World Cup: U23 XCO results, Canadians win both races

Lake Placid World Cup: Elite XCO results

Lake Placid World Cup: U23 XCC results

Lake Placid World Cup: Elite XCC results