August 10/18 18:24 pm - Langvad & Gaze Win Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup XCC
Posted by Editoress on 08/10/18
The Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup weekend opened on Friday with the fifth round of the new XCC cross-country event, with Annika Langvad (Specialized) taking her fourth win of the season and Sam Gaze (Specialized) his second.
The 20 minute event used Sunday's XCO one kilometre start loop, with the top 16 finishers out of 40 starters scoring start positions on the first two rows for the XCO, as well as collecting half the points of a World Cup.
The short circuit had a long opening climb and two shorter climbs, and was a race of attrition for both the women and the men.
Langvad attacked with approximately two and a half laps to go in the seven lap race, opening a gap on World Cup leader and world champion Jolanda Neff (Kross Racing), which she held to the line. Kate Courtney (Specialized) took third.
"This course was very different," said Langvad. "It had one bigger climb and two smaller punch climbs, and I could feel by the second lap that I was going really good today. I had a tough couple of weeks at the last two World Cups with my crash at Val di Sole [Italy], but then I went back home and trained, and started to feel really good again, so I came into this race with confidence. With three laps to go I put the hammer down a bit and with two to go I attacked and tried to keep it going from there."
Langvad closed the overall Series points gap slightly on Neff, but not enough to take the World Cup lead.
Emily Batty was top Canadian
Three Canadians finished in the top-16, with Emily Batty (Trek Factory) eighth, Haley Smith (Norco Factory) tenth and Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team) 15th. Pendrel is back in her first race after breaking her arm in early June. Catherine Fleury (Alma) finished just outside the top-16, in 18th place.
The men's race began with Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory) setting the pace for the first half of the race, followed by Gaze, world champion and World Cup leader Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM), Anton Cooper (Trek Factory) and Mathias Flueckiger (Thomus-RN Racing). Gaze hung back until the final couple of laps, when he began to up the pace, coming out of the final corner with 75 metres to go with a couple of bike lengths lead, which he kept to the line. Avancini took second ahead of Flueckiger. Schurter, who is suffering from a cold, backed off in the final laps, finishing 22nd and will start in the third row on Sunday.
Henrique Avancini
"It was tough," admitted Gaze, "either you were braking and trying to keep speed, or going full gas on the climbs. It was a demanding course and really took its toll. I'm really happy to be back at what I feel is my speed after a tough three months trying to get back to the level I know I can be at."
Despite finishing well back, Schurter easily continues to lead the overall standings, with the absent Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) also maintaining his second place in the standings.
Canada had three riders in the race, with Leandre Bouchard (KMC-Ekoi-SR Suntour) finishing 20th, Canadian XC champion Peter Disera (Norco Factory) 21st and Andrew L'Esperance (Forward Racing Norco) 35th.
Results from the Short Track races at the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup
| Women, 7 laps | |
| 1 Annika Langvad (Den) Specialized Racing | 0:19:32 |
| 2 Jolanda Neff (Sui) Kross Racing Team | at 0:04 |
| 3 Kate Courtney (USA) Specialized Racing | 0:05 |
| 4 Katerina Nash (Cze) Clif Pro Team | 0:07 |
| 5 Barbara Benko (Hun) Ghost Factory Racing | 0:08 |
| 6 Erin Huck (USA) | 0:10 |
| 7 Alessandra Keller* (Sui) Thömus-RN Racing Team | 0:16 |
| 8 Emily Batty (Can) Trek Factory Racing XC | 0:21 |
| 9 Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) Kross Racing Team | 0:28 |
| 10 Haley Smith (Can) Norco Factory Team XC | 0:40 |
| 11 Yana Belomoina (Ukr) Cst Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing | 0:43 |
| 12 Ellen Noble (USA) Trek Factory Racing XC | 0:46 |
| 13 Lea Davison (USA) Clif Pro Team | 0:46 |
| 14 Tanja Zakelj (Slo) Unior/Devinci Factory Racing | 0:48 |
| 15 Catharine Pendrel (Can) Clif Pro Team | 0:51 |
| 16 Jovana Crnogorac (Srb) Bike Way Racing Team | 0:55 |
| 17 Linda Indergand (Sui) Focus XC Team | 0:58 |
| 18 Catherine Fleury (Can) | 1:00 |
| 19 Agustina Maria Apaza (Arg) | 1:10 |
| 20 Elisabeth Brandau (Ger) | 1:11 |
| 21 Sandra Walter (Can) LIV Canada | 1:11 |
| 22 Evelyn Dong (USA) | 1:11 |
| 23 Irina Kalentyeva (Rus) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 1:12 |
| 24 Alexis Skarda (USA) | 1:17 |
| 25 Annie Last (GBr) KMC-Ekoi-SRSuntour | 1:28 |
| 26 Daniela Campuzano Chavez Peon (Mex) | 1:31 |
| 27 Sofia Gomez Villafane (Arg) Stan's-Pivot Pro Team P/B Maxxis | 1:34 |
| 28 Rebecca Beaumont (Can) | 1:34 |
| 29 Kaysee Armstrong (USA) | 1:39 |
| 30 Holly Harris (Aus) Team Merida Gunn-Rita | 1:41 |
| 31 Hannah Finchamp (USA) Clif Pro Team | 1:42 |
| 32 Jenn Jackson (Can) AWI racing | 1:43 |
| 33 Elisabeth Osl (Aut) JB Brunex Felt Factory Team | 1:44 |
| 34 Cindy Montambault (Can) | 2:04 |
| 35 Jitka Skarnitzlova (Cze) Gapp System-Cabtech MTB Racing Team | 2:17 |
| 36 Sarah Claudie Dostie Menard (Can) | -2 laps |
| DNS Elyse Nieuwold (Can) Pendrel Racing | |
| DNS Heather Gray (Can) | |
| Men, 9 laps | |
| 1 Samuel Gaze (NZl) Specialized Racing | 0:21:41 |
| 2 Henrique Avancini (Bra) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | at 0:01 |
| 3 Mathias Flueckiger (Sui) Thömus-RN Racing Team | 0:01 |
| 4 Anton Cooper (NZl) Trek Factory Racing XC | 0:02 |
| 5 Lars Forster (Sui) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:02 |
| 6 Titouan Carod (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:03 |
| 7 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Bianchi Countervail | 0:03 |
| 8 Reto Indergand (Sui) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:03 |
| 9 Nadir Colledani (Ita) Bianchi Countervail | 0:03 |
| 10 Maxime Marotte (Fra) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:05 |
| 11 Martin Loo (Est) | 0:05 |
| 12 Jordan Sarrou (Fra) KMC-Ekoi-SRSuntour | 0:06 |
| 13 Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) Kross Racing Team | 0:06 |
| 14 Victor Koretzky (Fra) KMC-Ekoi-SRSuntour | 0:08 |
| 15 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Esp) Primaflor Mondraker Rotor | 0:10 |
| 16 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Esp) Trek Factory Racing XC | 0:10 |
| 17 Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) Mitas Trek | 0:11 |
| 18 David Valero Serrano (Esp) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:15 |
| 19 Fabian Giger (Sui) Kross Racing Team | 0:19 |
| 20 Leandre Bouchard (Can) KMC-Ekoi-SRSuntour | 0:25 |
| 21 Peter Disera (Can) Norco Factory Team XC | 0:29 |
| 22 Nino Schurter (Sui) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing | 0:37 |
| 23 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Primaflor Mondraker Rotor | 0:41 |
| 24 Gregor Raggl (Aut) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 0:43 |
| 25 Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Esp) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:45 |
| 26 Keegan Swenson (USA) Stan's-Pivot Pro Team P/B Maxxis | 0:48 |
| 27 Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) Primaflor Mondraker Rotor | 0:56 |
| 28 Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) Torpado Gabogas | 1:07 |
| 29 Daniele Braidot (Ita) Centro Sportivo Carabinieri-Cicli Olympia | 1:21 |
| 30 Shlomi Haimy (Isr) Bike Way Racing Team | 1:24 |
| 31 Luca Braidot (Ita) Centro Sportivo Carabinieri-Cicli Olympia | 1:27 |
| 32 Karl Markt (Aut) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 1:30 |
| 33 Hugo Drechou (Fra) Massi | 1:50 |
| 34 Catriel Soto (Arg) MMR Factory Racing Team | 1:52 |
| 35 Andrew L'Esperance (Can) Forward Racing | 1:56 |
| 36 Andri Frischknecht (Sui) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing | 1:57 |
| 37 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) Specialized Racing | -1 lap |
| 38 Thomas Litscher (Sui) JB Brunex Felt Factory Team | -2 laps |
| 39 Nicola Rohrbach (Sui) | -2 laps |
| DNS Stephane Tempier (Fra) Bianchi Countervail |
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