May 26/25 14:59 pm - Wins & Crashes for Canadians at Nove Mesto World Cup

Posted by Editoress on 05/26/25
 

The first round of the XCC/XCO World Cup in Europe took place at Nove Mesto na Morave in Czechia and, as always, provided intense racing. Canada's Under-23 women continued their unbeaten streak in this third round, but there were different names at the top of the podium, with Ava Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) winning the XCC and Ella MacPhee (Wilier-Vittoria Factory) taking her first ever World Cup win in the XCO. In other categories, Jenn Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory) was 14th in the Elite women's XCO, her best ever European result, while Cole Punchard (Cannondale Factory) was 15th in the Elite men's XCC and Owen Clark 16th in the Under-23 men's XCC. Rafaelle Carrier (Pivot Cycles OTE) was second in the Junior women's XCO and Nicolas Gauthier 33rd in Junior men.

XCC
Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), winner of the first two rounds of both the Under-23 women's XCC and XCO, took second place to her sister Ava, with Ella MacPhee making it a complete Canadian podium. Isabella continues to lead the Series, with MacPhee moving up to third from fifth. As a bit of trivia, it appears that this is the first time in the history of the World Cup that siblings have finished 1-2.

In the Under-23 men's competition, Clark was the top Canadian in 16th, followed by Ian Ackert (Trek Future) in 28th. Clark remains seventh overall in the Series.

The Canadian Elite women struggled in the XCC, with Emilly Johnston (Scott-SRAM) 28th and Jackson 32nd. The win went to Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), in her first World Cup of the season. Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford) continues as the overall leader.

Chris Blevins (Specialized Factory) pushed his unbroken streak to three in the Elite men, coming from behind to beat teammate Victor Koretzky and extend his overall lead. Punchard was the only Canadian to race the XCC, finishing 15th.

XCO
The XCO course at Nove Mesto is a true test of a rider's skills, with multiple climbs per lap, rock gardens, a high speed asphalt section, and a pump track thrown in for good measure.

Isabella Holmgren was favoured to take her third straight win in the Under-23 women, and was well in the lead near the end of the first full lap, when she crashed hard in the Rock n Roll rock garden near the end of the lap and pulled out of the race, holding her right elbow. According to our sources, it looked worse than it was, and she suffered no serious injuries. However, this opened the door to Canada's newest top U23 woman to move into the spotlight - Ella MacPhee. MacPhee has shown that she is moving into the upper echelons of her sport, with a second and a third in the first two rounds this season. MacPhee and Fiona Schibler of Switzerland moved into the lead after the start loop and stayed away for the rest of the race, with MacPhee dropping her rival in the final lap to win by 17 seconds.

Ava Holmgren, winner of the XCC, lost nearly two minutes in the first lap, before working her way back to finish 21st. Nicole Bradbury finished 30th, and Ella Myers 37th. With her win, MacPhee moved six points ahead of Isabella Holmgren and takes the Series lead. Marin Lowe (Liv Factory), who did not race at Nove Mesto, drops to 14th overall from eighth, while Ava Holmgren, in her first World Cup of the season, joins the standings in 28th. In the Under-23 men, neither Clark nor Ackert finished, which drops Clark to 13th in the overall standings from sixth.

Ella spoke with us after her win, "Winning a World Cup has definitely been a big dream of mine, and something that a lot of people dream of. Not everybody gets to say that they've done it. It's a really amazing feeling that I can't quite put into words, to have won my first World Cup, here in Nove Mesto, on such an iconic course.

"It was a really tight race and it was really unfortunate to hear that Bella had crashed; I didn't actually know that she had crashed. I had my best start ever, where I wasn't having to chase from way behind. It was a tight battle with Fiona Schibler. We were able to pull away from the rest by just having a slightly quicker pace. Then I just had a bit more to give cresting one of the climbs near the end of the race into the downhill. I think my descending helped me to get a couple of gaps, which was a big change from the past seasons, when I couldn't really gain time on the descents. That was really cool.

"It's an incredible feeling, especially now that I'm going to race in Leogang [Austria, next round] with the Number 1 plate. I just want to enjoy every moment of this. It's amazing. I can't fully put it into words."

The Elite men saw Blevins win from a four man lead group, to solidify his hold on the leader's jersey. Punchard lost ground in the first lap to fall back to the low-30s, where he remained for the rest of the race to finish 32nd. Carter Woods' (Giant Factory) race followed the same trajectory, with him eventually finishing 39th. Tyler Orschel finished just outside the top-50, in 52nd place. Punchard moved up to 35th (from 41st) in the overall standings.

In the Elite women's race, Canadian champion Jenn Jackson was sitting top-15 for the first two laps before surging to seventh mid-race. She then faded a bit and had a crash, before putting in a strong final lap. Johnston had a poor start loop, putting her in the mid-40s, but steadily moved up through the rest of the race to finish 29th. Mona Mitterwallner (Mondraker Factory) outsprinted Samara Maxwell for the win. Maxwell continues to lead the overall standings, but Jackson drops two spots, from fifth to seventh.

"I'm happy with this one," said Jackson online. "There were some rough mid-late race laps, physically and mentally, but I kept it together and rallied for the last lap to race like I know I can. Now we work to have more laps like that.

"There's the battle on course, but also in my head of managing effort and noise of expectations. After having such an exceptional and exciting start to the year in the Brazil rounds, I've taken a lot of time and consistent reminders to remember my big picture goals for the year and level I want to perform at. That level isn't going to be for the podium every weekend, but on my best days it's possible. Top 15 is one of the things I'm fighting to achieve consistently because it's a stretch from where I've been in past seasons and still a massive challenge.

"So yah, I'm happy. Happy with my performance and feel accomplished even if it's off the mark of where I started the year. Long game plan for this year, pick our moments to stand out, but always be showing up."