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Haley Smith scores second Salamina stage race GC win

Peter Disera slips one spot out of top five after slashed tire on final day of Greek stage race

Salamina Epic Greece Haley Smith

Haley Smith soared to a second straight GC win in Greece, winning Salamina Epic #2 on Friday.

The Uxbridge, Ont. racer swept the Greek race series’ first round, which concluded earlier in the week. After a day off to recover, she backed that win up by taking the top spot on three of the four stages in Salamina Epic #2. Italy’s Greta Seiwald was the only rider able to unseat Smith during either round, pushing the Canadian to second on the Stage 3 XCM race.

One lucky fan got to share in Smiths victory. The Norco Factory Team racer held a contest on Instagram to correctly guess the average power she had to produce to win the 66 km second stage, which notched up 2,400 m of elevation gain on course. While most of the racing in Greece has been warm, the temperature for that day dropped to five degrees Celsius, with 35 km/hr winds. Head to her page to find out the winning wattage.

Haley Smith Salamina Stage Race Greece

Cindy Montambault finished ninth on the final day of the Salamina Epic #2 to claim 10th overall in the GC. The Canadian ends up one spot behind Savilia Blunk, the American under-23 national champion that recently signed to Sho-Air Twenty20 Pro Team.

Peter Disera had a great second week at the Salamina Epic series. The Canadian national champion was sitting in fifth overall going into the final day of racing. A slashed tire cost Disera valuable time, but he was able to recover and limit his losses. He held on for sixth overall in Salamina Epic #2

Norco Factory Team’s newest signing on the XC side, Andrew L’Esperance finished 16th in Salamina Epic #2. The former Forward Racing manager/racer finished seventh in Round #1, but started the second set of four races on the wrong foot.

The final Canadian racing in Greece was Alexandre Vialle. The young Canadian finished 26th racing for Toyota St-Eustache.

Polish racer Brtlomiej Wawak won the final stage of Salamina Epic #2 to place second behind Russia’s Timofei Ivanov, with American Keegan Swenson in third on GC.

Norco Factory Team’s final race in Greece takes place Sunday, a UCI C1 ranked single day event. The condensed period of racing is an opportunity for racers to earn early season UCI points, since there are few UCI ranked races in North America.

The Canadian cross country season starts March 31 with the Bear Mountain Canada Cup.