Emily Batty starts 2020 on the podium in Canary Islands

It wasn’t a smooth start to the year, but not even being crashed out on the second of four stages could stop Emily Batty from reaching the podium at the 4-day MTB Lanzarote stage race.

The UCI S1-ranked stage race held on the Canary Islands marked an earlier-than-usual start to Batty’s 2020 Olympic campaign. With a high S1 classification, it was an opportunity for the Canadian to kick start the points-race for UCI rankings.

Batty took advantage of the opportunity, finishing third overall. Denmark’s Caroline Bohé won the women’s elite race.

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Tough day at the office. Got taken out by another rider in the first 4km of the race… picked myself up off the ground and chased for the remaining 54km. Ended up finishing 4th just 45 seconds off the win. Still having fun, still smiling, and a big shout out to the @4stagemtb_lanzarote first aid team! ? @jamesmitchell5

A post shared by Emily Batty (@emilybatty1) on Jan 26, 2020 at 9:39am PST

Early on, Batty started strong. She finished second on the opening day’s fast-paced race. Day 2 was a different story. Batty was crashed out by another competitor in the opening kilometres of racing. Wounded, but not out of the race, Batty was forced to chase back on her own for the remaining 54 km of the stage. In an impressive effort, the multiple-time Canadian XCO national champion was able to close to within 45 seconds of the leaders by the stage’s end.

Injuries from the crash slowed Batty on the third stage individual time trial. She fought back to second on the final day of racing, though, securing her podium finish in the overall at the 4-day MTB Lanzarote.

Not a bad showing at all, especially considering it is Batty’s first ever mountain bike stage race!

Canary Islands race the first stop on the road to 2020 Olympics

The Canary Islands race is the first event in Batty’s campaign to return to the Olympic Games. Batty was fourth in the women’s XCO when the Games were last held, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. Leading into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Batty is part of a small group of Canadian women contesting for one of the two spots Canada will have in the Olympic XCO.

Unlike World Cup events, where a nation can enter as many athletes as they like, countries are assigned a limited number of spots in the Olympics. The number of riders each nation is allowed to send is based off of the country’s UCI ranking.