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Emily Batty matches career-best World Cup in Australia

April 28, 2014
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Canadian mountain bike champion Emily Batty overcame technical problems to finish in second at the World Cup cross country race in Cairns, Australia on the weekend.

 

Batty moved into third place early in the race, but burped air from one of her tires, slowing her pace until she could get to technical support. With a fresh wheel, Batty climbed back through the positions she had lost, passing Irina Kalentieva to retake third position.

Sabine Spitz had held second place until a flat forced her to drop back. Batty built a margin over third place and held on to the finish.

Eva Lechner took an early break from the front with Jolanda Neff. However, Neff was unable to match her dominant performance from the season opener in South Africa, barely hanging onto a top-10 finish. Lechner held the lead uncontested to the finish line for her first victory of the season.

Canadian Mikaela Kofman celebrated her best ever World Cup finish, crossing in 16th place. Kofman was the lone Scott-3Rox rider at the race, and intended to use the event as a warm up for the European rounds of the World Cup later this spring.

 

Batty now ranks third in the women’s World Cup standings, with 300 points. Neff leads the rankings with 350 points, while Spitz is second with 330.

In the men’s race, Julien Absalon was dominant, in part because chief rival Nico Schurter skipped the race to try his hand at road racing. Absalon did not race without challenges. Two crashes in the start loop made for a chaotic beginning to the race, and Absalon sat with Mathias Fluckiger in fourth, already 19 seconds back of the early leader.

Although Absalon reeled in the leading Thomas Litscher, Absalon lost time and positions, dropping to ninth with a flat tire.

Absalon recovered, and heading into the final lap, attacked to move into the lead with Fluckiger before a second attack allowed him to take an incontestable lead to the finish.

Absalon’s victory is the 28th World Cup win of his career, more than any other man, and tied with Julie Furtado and Gunn Rita Dahle-Flesjaa for the all time record.

Absalon holds the World Cup lead with a perfect score of 500 points.

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