Mountain bike nationals Saturday
Pendrel and Plaxton to defend their titles at St-Felicien
Canadian cross-country mountain bike racers will be looking to earn or keep the maple leaf jersey as national champions at St-Felicien, Quebec this weekend. They will have an opportunity to wear the jersey at next weekend’s UCI World Cup event in Mont Ste-Anne.
Several of the favourites await word from Cycling Canada Cyclisme as to whether they’re going to the Olympics. Two men and two women will get the call to represent their country on Wednesday.
Riders will contest the title Saturday on a shortened circuit of  five kilometres in the Saguenay region of the province, north of Quebec City. The course has a technical section and both double and single track climbs.
Luna’s Catharine Pendrel, the number one ranked female rider in the world, looks to defend her national title against Subaru-Trek’s Emily Batty (10th ranked) and Rocky Mountain’s Marie-Helene Premont (20th ranked), among others. She is a lock for the Olympics and even won the test event at Hadleigh Farm near London last year.
Canada’s highest ranked male, Scott-3Rox Racing’s Geoff Kabush at 28th, seeks his eighth national title. He’ll have to wrest the maple leaf jersey from Max Plaxton (Specialized, 40th ranked) and keep wary of Scott-3Rox teammates Derek Zandstra and Cameron Jette.
