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Gallery: Catharine Pendrel and Emily Batty go third-fourth at Mont-Sainte-Anne XC World Cup

Canadians with strong performances on home soil in Round 5 of the XC World Cup

Following heavy rainfall on Saturday and overnight into Sunday, it was a surprise to see the cross-country mountain bike course stay relatively dry for the start of the fifth round of the World Cup. Canadians Catharine Pendrel and Emily Batty put in strong rides to finish third and fourth respectively in the elite women’s category. Quinton Disera had a best ever fourth place finish in the under-23 men’s race at Mont-Sainte-Anne.

In the women’s race, Pendrel rode towards the front of the race. Using the first really technical descents to her advantage, she was able to position herself in first but she was accompanied by two strong riders in Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Canyon Factory Racing) and Yana Belomoina (CST Sandd American Eagle). World Cup overall leader Belomoina was climbing the best out of the three while Pendrel was confident on the descent.

The pace was relentless on the climbs and Pendrel eventually tired not quite able to hold the pace. Belomoina rode a superb race taking the win 44 seconds ahead of Ferrand-Prevot with Pendrel riding to third place. Emily Batty started the race in a chase group but eventually distanced them to ride in to the line in fourth place.

“I’ve been feeling stronger since Lenzerheide [World Cup Round 4 in Switzerland],” said Pendrel, “and today’s the first day it came together for a podium. I felt really strong and I was descending faster than Yana and Pauline, but Yana got a bit of a gap on the switchback climb. I think I had a bit of a mental moment and lost the fight for the front.”

Batty was able to move up one place in the overall standings into seventh place while Pendrel who has started the season slow jumped to 11th overall.