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No luck for Catharine Pendrel at Nove Mesto na Morave World Cup

Peter Disera eighth in under-23 men's race

Catharine Pendrel on the way to victory at the 2016 Mont-Saint-Anne World Cup

The first World Cup of the cross country mountain bike season went off over Victoria Day weekend with Canadians racing in the Czech Republic at Nove Mesto na Morave. On Saturday, the elite women and under-23 men raced. Sunday saw the women’s under-23 race go off as well as the elite men’s race.

Pendrel falls out of contention due to back luck

Catharine Pendrel coming off a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics was primed to get going in the World Cup season opener and by the second lap of the elite women’s race looked well positioned for a podium place. Pendrel was riding in second place behind world champion Annika Langvad of Denmark when an untimely mechanical involving her chain while riding the rock garden resulted in Pendrel losing significant time.

“I felt good, this was probably the best start I’ve ever had on this course,” said Pendrel. “I was feeling good and had good energy, and then coming through the last rock garden before the end of the lap I dropped my chain and it took three minutes to sort it out.”

Mechanics in the pits struggled to get Pendrel back on course. She then suffered a flat tire and had to fight back to finish 21st.

“Passing someone on a downhill I got a flat tire and had to ride that into the tech zone. So luck wasn’t on my side today,” Pendrel explained. “But my form is good, so that’s the positive takeaway.”

Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing) was third last year but was unable to repeat that performance finishing 17th. Four other Canadian women raced with Haley Smith (Norco Factory Racing) finishing 28th, Sandra Walter (Team Canada) was 35th, Cindy Montambault (Team Canada) came 38th and Catherine Fleury (Team Canada) was 49th.

Derek Zandstra top Canadian in elite men

Derek Zandstra at the 2017 Whiskey 50 Proof race in Prescott, Arizona. (Photo: IG @derekzandstra)
Photo: IG @derekzandstra

Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) was the winner on Sunday in the elite men’s event. The world and Olympic champion took fifth win at the venue having won the world championship title her last year and rounds of the World Cup in previous years.

Wearing the Canadian national champions jersey, Derek Zandstra (Cannondale-3Rox) was the top Canadians in 28th. He was caight behind an early crash.

“I was on the left side,” explained Zandstra, “and I saw a guy’s head go down and all of a sudden there was a bike flying up in the air; I think he broke his chain and went over the bars. I had to come to a stop but was able to get through and chase the pack.”

Zandstra was able to battle from a position in the 40s to 28th throughout the race. He did not have the easiest build up to the first World Cup and will look for improvements.

“I had a bit of a rough start to the season,” said Zandstra. “I got sick around Sea Otter and I was on antibiotics as of last week, but it’s starting to turn around. I knew I had some good fitness coming into this and training’s been good, minus the sickness. Next week is another good race for me and I’m hoping to prove myself there.”

The field also contained Léandre Bouchard (BH-SR Suntour-KMC) who finished 39th, Raphaël Gagné (Cannondale-3Rox) in 64th, Evan McNeely (Team Canada) in 74th and Andrew L’Esperance (Team Canada) in 95th.

Peter Disera with strong top-10 performance in Under-23 men

Peter Disera at the 2017 Sea Otter Classic

Peter Disera (Norco Factory Racing) was the top Canadian in the U23 men’s race. After sitting top-5 in the first half of the race, the Canadian U23 champion dropped to eighth by the finish line. Other Canadians racing included Sean Fincham (Team Canada) who finished in 67th place and Marc-Andre Fortier (Team Canada) in 78th.

“I came into this race without a number in mind but I knew in the back of my mind that there was a chance I could be in the top-5 group fighting for the podium and in the second lap I was in that group,” said Disera.” I held on for as long as I could, but I slipped back a little bit, although I managed to maintain top-10. I’m not too surprised because this year has been going well and I was riding the best I have ever ridden on this course. So I’m really pleased.”

Anne-Julie Tremblay top Canadian in Under-23 women

Canada had two entrants in the U23 race which was won by American Kate Courtney (Specialized). Anne-Julie Tremblay (Equipe du Quebec/Cyclone d’Alma) finished 24th in her first European World Cup.

After the race she said, “I’m really happy with my race here. It was a hard start but it went well for me. I didn’t really have a plan because it was my first World Cup in Europe, but I wanted to do a top-25 and I made it.”

Mackenzie Myatt (Team Canada) raced her first World Cup after graduating from the junior ranks to finish 53rd. “I was really happy with my start and through the start loop. I passed a lot of people and felt really strong on the descents, but the technical climbs really hit me and I lost so much time there. But I learned a lot and I’ll try to apply it in the World Cup next week,” Myatt said.