Eight riders to represent Team Canada at Val di Sole World Cup

After strong results in Albstadt and Nove Mesto, Cycling Canada is sending a team of eight riders to the next two rounds of World Cup cross country racing in Europe. The national mountain bike project will take riders to Italy and Andorra for Rounds 4 and 5 of the World Cup XCC and XCO circuit.

Racing starts this weekend at Val di Sole, Italy, where, in addition to top Canadians on Pro trade teams, the eight riders will race against the world’s best in the national colours of Team Canada.

Andrew L’Esperance, Sandra Walter and Cindy Montambault will represent Canada in the Elite races alongside Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing), Haley Smith (Norco Factory), Leandre Bouchard (KMC-Ekoi-SR Suntour), Peter Disera (Norco Factory), and Raphaël Gangé (Silverback OMX). Walter returns to Europe after landing her best ever World Cup placings, finishing 15th in Albstadt, Germany and 23rd in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. The Liv Canada rider also nabbed wins at the penultimate Canada Cup round in Whistler, B.C. and the Sp’akw’us XCM in Squamish, B.C. while she was at home between World Cup races.

A strong crew of Under-23 athletes will be looking to gain World Cup experience at the Italy and Andorra rounds, including Mackenzie Myatt and Juliette Tetrault in the U23 Women’s race, and Sean Fincham, Gunnar Holmgren and Brody Sanderson in the U23 Men’s race. Sean Fincham will be building on solid results in the last two rounds, where the young Squamish rider moved up from 21st in Albstadt to 17th in Nove Mesto, while first year U23’s Holmgren and Sanderson both did an excellent job of moving up through the huge U23 Men’s field at both rounds. Tetrault and Myatt also landed excellent results, finishing 29th and 34th, respectively, at the Czech Republic round of racing.

Joining the Team Canada athletes in the U23 races will be Quinton Disera (Norco Factory) and Pivot Cycles-OTE’s team of Marc-Andre Fortier, Raphael Auclair and Felix Belhumeur.

While the team has had excellent results at the previous World Cup rounds, National Mountain Bike Coach Dan Proulx says the focus is still on world championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland in September. “These World Cups are incredibly challenging and will test the riders’ climbing and technical skills,” says Proulx adding “These races are simply a step in our process. It’s low pressure for us.”

Following the Val di Sole World Cup in Italy, the team heads to Vallnord, Andorra for the Round 5 on 13-15 July.