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Forchini, Cooper conquer in the women’s and men’s U23 mountain bike races in Vallnord, Andorra

In the U23 races of the UCI mountain bike cross-country championships in Vallnord, Andorra, the weather continued to conspire against riders, making a tough competition even tougher.

In the U23 races of the UCI mountain bike cross-country championships in Vallnord, Andorra, the weather continued to conspire against riders, making a tough competition even tougher. Once again, overnight conditions brought a deluge of rainfall to the high-altitude terrain, reducing it to a morass of tangled, slippery roots, even worse rocks, and ground that couldn’t possibly be muddier.

It was bad, it was messy, and for the women, it lengthened the already grinding race by an additional twenty minutes. After riders came across the finish, reports said, some were collapsing from the intensity of it all.

Still, Jenny Rissveds of Sweden, recently crowned World Cup champion, managed to work her way forward at the race’s beginning through the difficult conditions, taking her spot at the front of the bunch. Before long, though, she was caught by Ramona Forchini of Switzerland, with the two riding together for the length of a lap. Drawing on that power that so often paints a target on her back, though, Rissveds managed to pull ahead — but only briefly. Her strength seeming to wane, she dropped behind Russia’s Olga Terentyeva who pulled ahead to take silver, 22 seconds ahead of the Swedish rider. Forchini, meanwhile, took first place after the day’s trying opening competition.

For Canada, Fredrique Trudel finished 18th, Haley Smith 20th, Catherine Fleury 23rd, and Maghalie Rochette 32nd.

Later in the day, the men, on the other hand, faced a slightly different set of challenges.

By then, the downpours had stopped. The mud, however, drying out a bit as the weather eased, was no less terrible to deal with. This time, it was in the sense that it had become a sticky, snaring bog and not just a wet mess, denying riders their speed in some corners and their traction in others. As a consequence, the men, too, had to work almost impossibly hard, and it took a toll on many.

Starting out, New Zealand’s Sam Gaze took the lead on the first climb, followed closely by teammate Anton Cooper and joined, at least at first, by France’s Titouan Carod. Switching places with teammate Victor Koretzky, Carod dropped back, leaving Cooper and Koretzky to engage in a titanic battle that defined the race’s remainder. The dynamic of that battle, it seemed, reflected the strengths of either rider: Cooper would surge ahead on the climbs, only to be reeled in on the tricky, technical singletrack descents by Koretzky. In every case, one would get ahead by about eight to ten seconds before, once again, they were back together.

Great Britain’s Grant Ferguson, meanwhile, was working his way up through the field behind them, overcoming the terrain for the most part to eventually slot into third position. Powering through the wheel-catching conditions, he was nearly within striking distance of Cooper and Koretzky, battling at the front. That, however, would prove to be as far as the British rider could get. On the final climb, 300 metres from the finish, Cooper attacked one last time and established a two second gap — a tight one, no doubt — on Koretzkty. It was an advantage Cooper was able to maintain to cross the finish line in first place, with Koretzky taking second. Twenty-two seconds behind, Ferguson placed third after the slogging men’s U23 race.

For Canada, Peter Disera placed 31st, while Alexandre Viale placed 37th and Marc Andre Fortier finished 38th. Farther back was Marc-Antoine Nadon, who finished 62nd.