Haley Smith shines silver in grim conditions at Snowshoe World Cup XCM
U.S. race weekend kicks off with muddy marathon mayhem
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UCI Mountain Bike World Series / Instagram
Racing 100km can feel very different, depending on the course and conditions. Just looking at the conditions in Snowshoe, W.Va, Wednesday’s World Cup XCM would have been a hard-fought 100km. Add in a singletrack-heavy course full of wet, West Virginia roots and rocks, and it was a worthy course for the finale of the first World Cup XCM season.
Despite trying conditions, Canadian cross country marathon national champion Haley Smith (Maxxis Factory Racing) shone. The Uxbridge, Ont. racer scored silver in the elite women’s World Cup XCM final. Only U.S. local Hannah Otto (Pivot Cycles) would finish ahead of the Canadian to take the win on home soil. After crossing the halfway point of the 100km race riding just behind Otto, Smith would finish second after five hours 51 minutes of racing in West Virginia. Katazina Sosna (Torpado Factory Team) would make the trip overseas worth it with a podium finish in third.
The men’s XCM came down to a three-way sprint finish between a trio of Europeans. After four hours and 38 minutes of racing, just one second separated the podium positions. Germany’s Simon Stiebjahn (Singer Racing Team) takes the win, though, out-kicking Axel Roudil Courtinat (Bulls Racing) and Casey South (Torpado Racing Team) at the line.
Luke Vrouwenvelder was the top North American in the men’s race, finishing 16th in 4:59.
Snowshoe World Cup weekend
The penultimate weekend World Cup racing continues on Thursday, Sept 28 when Shownshoe hosts the junior downhill qualifying and under-23 cross country short track racing.
XC Marathon racing is a new addition to the World Cup calendar for 2023. Despite earning the World Cup name, the endurance series has not yet recieved the same level of coverage (or any live coverage at all) in the first year of Warner Bros Discovery reign as mountain biking’s official broadcasters.
