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The Disera Double: Brothers win elite and u23 XCO national championships minutes apart

Race report and results from 2019 Canadian XCO national championships elite and under-23 men's racing

July 20, 2019
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Getting to race a national championships on the trails you grew up riding is a unique opportunity not many riders get.

Winning those ‘home’ national championships within minutes of your brother also winning, well that’s just something special.

It’s what Peter and Quinton Disera pulled off at Canadian XCO national championships on Saturday. The event returned to Hardwood Ski & Bike in Simcoe County, Ont. where the brothers grew up and learned to ride.

Quinton Disera was racing the under-23 men’s cross country race. That race started two minutes behind the elite men’s event, which Peter Disera has won the last two years in a row.

Peter Disera takes the holeshot off the start of the 2019 elite men’s XCO championship race

Both riders, who race together on Norco Facotry Team, fended off strong challenges in the early stages of the race to win their respective national championship titles for a very supportive home crowd. First Quinton then, one lap later, Peter crossed the finish line solo to win at home at Hardwood Ski & Bike.

Peter Disera on home trails at Hardwood Ski & Bike

Neither race was without drama, however. Peter Disera had an early scare when he crashed on the first lap.

“I was down and up pretty fast, and just lost a single spot to my teammate Andrew [L’Esperance],” recounted elder Disera, who is still just 24 years old. “But it was enough that I was like ‘Oh, I need to watch what’s happening.”

“Ironically enough, I crashed on Disera Drop,” Peter added, before Quinton corrected “Smith drop, now.”

Léandre Bouchard tries to deal with the scorching heat at Hardwood Ski & Bike with Andrew L’Esperance close behind.

From then on, though, it was clean sailing. Of the initial group of four on the front, only Léandre Bouchard (Pivot Cycles-OTE) was able to hold Disera’s wheel. Marc-Andre Fortier, also on Pivot Cycles-OTE slowly fell off the pace to ride alone in third. Andrew L’Esperance, teammate to the Disera brothers on Norco Factory Team, suffered a double flat tire, sending him backwards from the leading group.

Marc-Andre Fortier held with the front group through the opening laps of the elite men’s race

“Once I got away,” Peter said after the race, “I just tried to ride clean and clip as few trees as possible.”

It was working. Disera set the fastest lap time on every one of the five laps in the elite race. Peter extended his winning margin to 1:34 over Bouchard by the end of the race. This win marks Peter Disera’s third consecutive Canadian elite XCO national championship.

Marc-Andre (3nd) and Léandre Bouchard (2nd) with the Pivot Cycles-OTE team after the elite men’s finish.

Behind, Quinton Disera was also making quick work of the under-23 field. He and Raphael Auclair (Pivot Cycles-OTE) were rapidly working their way through the elite men’s field, which had started two minutes before the under-23 race.

Quinton Disera leads the 2019 under-23 men’s XCO national championships

“There was a point in the race where someone said Quinton was 45 seconds behind me,” Peter said after the race. “Which, doing some quick math, meant he’d made up 1:45 on me, so … that was concerning.”

RELATED: Elite Women’s race report: Emily Batty repeats as Canadian XCO champion

Inaccurate spectator time-gaps aside, the race was going well for Quinton despite also crashing on the first lap.

“Right off the gun, I wanted to make it really hard. I crashed on the first lap, so I was a bit further back, but I was still in the lead three, then two.”

Raphael Auclair stayed close to Disera for much of the under-23 race

Auclair was holding strong though, and it wasn’t until the third of four laps that the younger Disera was able to create some space between himself and second place.

RELATED: Results: Junior and Under-17 XCO national championships

“It took a little while to shake Raph Aucliar, but I’m stoked the race,” Quinton said afterwards. “I went into this with a bit of confidence, and wanted to to lead it and be the decisive rider in our race.”

“He threw down last year at the Canada Cup here,” Peter interjected, “So he knew he could do it.”

Tyler Orschel would be third in under-23’s by just two seconds

After falling 20 seconds back on the second lap, Tyler Orschel (Durham Shredders) had recovered and picked up the pace. Orschel would end up third, but just two seconds behind Auclair in second.

RELATED: Watch: A Disera Story // Episode 002: Where It All Began

Quinton Disera earns his first under-23 XCO national championship.

Peter Disera gets a congratulatory hug from his mom after winning a third straight elite men’s XCO national championships

“It was super nice to have it at Hardwood Ski & Bike in front of all our family and friends that were able to make it out today,” Quinton said of the home town win.

Disera will take over the maple leaf jersey from Norco Factory Team’s Sean Fincham. The two-time under-23 national champion  suffered an early mechanical, reportedly snapping a chain on lap one. The Squamish defending champion set the fastest time on the last three laps of the race to chase from last place back to seventh, but ran out of ground.

Taking time for the fans at the home town race.

Results: 2019 Canadian XCO national championships, Oro-Medonte, Ontario.

Elite Men
1 DISERA, Peter NORCO FACTORY TEAM ON 1:23:26
2 BOUCHARD, L̩andre PIVOT CYCLES РOTE QC 1:25:00
3 FORTIER, Marc-andre PIVOT CYCLES OTE QC 1:28:04
4 GAGNÉ, Raphaël INDEPENDENT QC 1:28:50
5 BELHUMEUR, Felix PIVOT CYCLES – OTE QC 1:30:25
6 BURKE, Felix INDEPENDENT QC 1:30:55
7 VIALLE, Alexandre TOYOTA ST-EUSTACHE QC 1:31:02
8 GLASSFORD, Peter TREK STORE CC ON 1:31:45
9 MARTINDILL, Matthew INDEPENDENT ON 1:32:58
10 AUDET, Anthony CC ACQ QC 1:33:24
11 WATSON, Andrew AWI RACING P/B THE CRANK AND SPROCKET ON 1:34:34
12 SLAUGHTER, Jon ANGRY JOHNNY’S RACING P/B NORCO ON 1:35:46
13 HLAVENKA, Luke AWI RACING P/B THE CRANK AND SPROCKET ON 1:37:11
14 BAYLEY, Michael TONY’S POWER TOOL RACING ON 1:39:34
15 JETTE, Cameron INDEPENDENT ON 1:40:06
16 CHAPMAN, Stephen NINE2FIVEPRO CYCLING TEAM ON 1:40:20
17 LEFEBVRE, Alex THE PETERBOROUGH CYCLING CLUB ON -1 Lap
18 BRIOSCHI, Corey NORTH HUB BIKE SHOP ON -1 Lap
19 PADEGA, Jack INDEPENDENT ON -1 Lap
20 SLOTEGRAAF, Sidney NEW HOPE BIKE CLUB (NHBC) ON -1 Lap
21 TRELA, Adam WOODSTOCK RACING ON -2 Laps
22 RIVE, Bennett DURHAM SHREDDERS ON -2 Laps
DNF MURRAY, Cody CRIMPS CYCLING CLUB ON DNF
DNF L’ESPERANCE, Andrew NORCO FACTORY TEAM XC NS DNF
Under-23 Men
1 DISERA, Quinton NORCO FACTORY TEAM ON 1:07:15
2 AUCLAIR, Raphael PIVOT CYCLES – OTE QC 1:07:33
3 ORSCHEL, Tyler DURHAM SHREDDERS ON 1:07:35
4 JONES, Holden PENDREL RACING BC 1:08:52
5 HOLMGREN, Gunnar HARDWOOD NEXT WAVE ON 1:10:04
6 SANDERSON, Brody AWI RACING P/B THE CRANK AND SPROCKET ON 1:11:15
7 FINCHAM, Sean NORCO FACTORY TEAM BC 1:11:56
8 BARTON, Malcolm DURHAM SHREDDERS ON 1:12:41
9 VERREAULT, Victor VÉLO2MAX QC 1:12:56
10 FARRELL-DESSUREAULT, Émile RIDE WITH RENDALL P/B BIEMME QC 1:13:31
11 SADESKY, Logan RUNDLE MOUNTAIN CYCLING CLUB AB 1:14:42
12 TRUCHON, Philippe MATHIEU PERFORMANCE QC 1:15:04
13 BERGERON, Anthony VELOGAMIK QC 1:16:00
14 NIEUWESTEEG, Carter BROAD STREET CYCLES BC 1:16:25
15 JONKER, Andrew CASUAL FRIDAY CYCLING CLUB ON 1:16:29
16 MCDOWELL, Nathan TONY’S POWER TOOL RACING ON 1:16:31
17 ST-LAURENT, Philippe PIVOTCYCLES-OTE QC 1:16:34
18 KOCEMBA, Jan DURHAM SHREDDERS ON 1:16:39
19 HAMM, Emile BLACKSHEEP MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUB ON 1:16:58
20 LONEY, Calvin NORTH HUB BIKE SHOP ON 1:17:23
21 MULCAHY, Liam DURHAM SHREDDERS ON 1:17:45
22 OUELLETTE, Eric INDEPENDENT AB 1:18:08
23 MALTAIS-PILOTE, William CVM CYCLONE D’ALMA QC 1:19:38
24 COTE, William EQUIPE DU QUEBEC QC 1:20:07
25 HORSFIELD, Robin HARDWOOD NEXT WAVE ON 1:21:36
26 FLOOD, Owen INDEPENDENT ON 1:22:00
27 KLEBAN, Nicolas INDEPENDENT QC 1:22:35
28 EMSLEY, Nicholas INDEPENDENT ON -1 Lap
DNF MILLER, Noah WOODSTOCK RACING ON DNF