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Who to watch at Nove Mesto World Cup double-header

A solid team of Canadians are in Czech Republic for this week's double-header!

Photo by: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

World Cup racing is back, finally, and kicking off with a big double-header in the Czech Republic. There’s a solid team of Canadians ready to take on the world in Nove Mesto. Here’s whose racing for Canada, and who to watch for when the first Olympic-distance XC race starts Thursday morning.

RELATED: How to watch the return of World Cup racing in Nove Mesto this week

Emily Batty
Emily Batty racing the 2018 Nove Mesto World Cup XCO Image: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Elite Women

Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing) leads a three-rider crew of Canucks into Thursday’s World Cup XCO. After spending part of her extended off-season on a bikepacking traverse across Iceland, the Brooklin, Ont. racer showed Tuesday she’s not lacking high-end speed. Batty finished 17th in a muddy and wild Short Track XCC in Nove Mesto.

Haley Smith also started Tuesday’s XCC, starting fast before slowing due to mechanical issue. She’ll be joined in Thursday’s XCO by Norco Factory teammate Jenn Jackson. NFT’s newest signing has already impressed in Europe, leading her team in the standings in their first race back this September.

Snowshoe World Cup Evie Richards
Evie Richards focused on the start line in Snowshoe. Photo: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

While the three Canadians are always a podium threat at World Cups, who will top the incredibly deep women’s elite field is anyone’s guess. Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing) made a strong first impression on the elite field Tuesday, winning her first-ever XCC start. The U.K. rider pushed world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Canyon) to a photo finish in the 20-minute race.

Ferrand-Prevot showed that, despite returning from off-season surgery, she’s on form for racing. Other favorites include Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing) and Annika Langvad (Specialized), both of whom are returning to form after injury. American World Cup winner Kate Courtney (Specialized) has rarely been off the podium since winning world championships in 2018. Sina Frei, dominant in her under-23 career, will also be looking to move up in the elite field.

One familiar face that will be missing in Nove Mesto is Kamloops, B.C.’s Catharine Pendrel. The Canadian Olympic medallist is taking this fall season off as she is pregnant with her and husband Keith Wilson’s first child.

Leandre Bouchard
Léandre Bouchard racing Mont-Sainte-Anne. Photograph by Nick Iwanyshyn

Elite Men

Five riders represent Canada in the elite men’s race. Léandre Bouchard (Pivot Cycles-OTE)has been winning Coupe du Quebec races all summer and carries confidence into this season after his 15th place at world championships in 2019. Three-time national champion Peter Disera (Norco Factory Team) also made a big impression in the elite races last year,  in Nove Mesto and again at Les Gets.

Andrew L’Esperance (Norco Factory Team) and Pivot Cycles-OTE’s duo of Raphael Auclair and Marc Andre Fortier round out the Canadian contingent in the elite men’s race.

Mathieu Van der Poel battles Nino Schurter at 2019 UCI XCO World Cup in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. Image Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

Nino Schurter, though, is the favorite to win Thursday’s race. The reigning world champion won’t have to worry about his Dutch rival, Mathieu van der Poel, who is preparing for the rescheduled Spring Classics on the road.

Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing), the French contingent of Maxime Marotte (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Victor Koretzky (KMC Orbea) and Mathias Flueckiger (Thomus-RN) will all be taking their chance to unseat Schurter, though. Especially after the Swiss world champ showed some sign of weakness, fading to the back of Tuesday’s XCC.

The Short Track winner, Jose Gerardo Allua, will surely carry momentum into the XCO as well. Filippo Colombo (Absolute Absalon) another new name to the elites, will be intent on proving himself in the main event after a dominant under-23 career. Colombo already showed form, finishing fouth in the muddy XCC Tuesday.

U23 under-23 men's XCO 2019 UCI mountain bike world championships Mont-Sainte-Anne
Sean Fincham on La Patriote at 2019 UCI mountain bike world championships. Photograph by Nick Iwanyshyn

Under-23 Men

Norco Factory Team rolls into the under-23 race with a stacked line-up. Sean Fincham, two-time U23 national champion and reigning national champion Quinton Disera are the veterans in this age group. They’re joined by the team’s newcomer, Carter Woods. Already Canadian junior national champion, and fourth in the junior men’s race at 2019 world championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Woods has shown impressive speed in Europe this year. In early season races in Greece, and again at a UCI C2 race in Europe this fall.

They’re joined by the always-strong Pivot Cycles-OTE rider Gunnar Holmgren and Durham Shredder’s Tyler Orschel, whose been progressing steadily through the ranks for several years now.

Marianne Theberge (Pivot Cycles-OTE) will be the lone Canadian taking on the under-23 women’s races in Nove Mesto.

Under-23 races start Thursday and, while they’re not televised, you can follow results live on the UCI website.