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Catharine Pendrel podiums at Albstadt XC World Cup, moves to second in overall standings

Canadian champion Pendrel continues her run of strong performances with a third place finish in Germany

Catharine Pendrel
May 22, 2016
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Catharine Pendrel (Luna Racing) earned a podium position at the second round of the UCI cross country mountain bike world cup  in Altstadt, Germany on May 22. The course featured a combination of physically demanding climbs and challenging technical sections. Heading into the last lap, Pendrel  was second on course to Danish rider Annika Langvad (Specialized Racing). Behind Pendrel,  Swedish champion Jenny Rissveds (Scott-Odlo) was coming back from an early race crash moving towards a position on the podium despite being outside the top-five heading into the final lap.

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Rissveds managed to pass Pendrel on the sixth and final lap to take second on the day while Pendrel rounded out the podium in third place. At the opening round of the world cup in  Australia, Pendrel rode to a fourth place finish. Pendrel now sits second in the overall world cup standings with 310 points; Langvad leads with 500 points after taking the first two rounds.

“It was a hard race,” admitted Pendrel, “but it’s the best my body has ever felt in Albstadt, so I’ll take that as a good sign that my form is there. So I’m excited to take my form to La Bresse and see if I can keep moving up. Sometimes when you are in a group you can forget to race for the front, so I tried to just mentally ride as if I was at the front and that allowed me to get a gap, until Jenny caught me on the last lap.”

Further back in the women’s field, Emily Batty finished in 12th, a result she expressed disappointment in after on her Twitter saying, “I have more than 12th in me. Time to optimize the form before the next round in France.” Other Canadians racing in the elite women’s field were Haley Smith, Sandra Walter, Cindy Montambault and Rebecca Beaumont.

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In the elite men’s race, Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo) and Julien Absalon (BMC) were locked in a neck-to-neck battle on the final lap.  The two responded to each other’s attacks and the race came down right to the line. Nino Schurter was patient on the finishing paved stretch bidding his time before opening up a punishing sprint and coming around Absalon. It was Schurter’s first victory in his career at the Albstadt World Cup. Maxime Marotte (BH-SR Suntour-KMC) finished in third-place.

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The top Canadian was Derek Zandstra (Scott – 3 Rox Racing) in 16th while Canadian national champion Raphaël Gagné (Cannondale 360Fly powered by Sugoi) came in 28th. The other Canadians on course were Geoff Kabush, Evan Guthrie and Leandre Bouchard who did not finish the race. Bouchard finished a personal best 19th at the first round of the world cup.

“This is definitely my best World Cup,” commented Zandstra. “I had a 15th at world championships in 2014, but this my best world cup, especially in Europe. Last year at this race I kind of redlined myself at the beginning and paid for it, so this year I was a lot more cautious. The first couple of laps I didn’t feel like I was going too hard, because I knew it was going to hurt at the end, and it did. But I held on and I’m pretty happy.”

The third round of the XC world cup gets underway May 28 with the elite racers taking to the course on May 29 in La Bresse, France.