Geoff Kabush wins men’s Canadian XCO champs
Geoff Kabush of Scott-3Rox racing won the 2014 Canadian XCO Mountain Bike Championships on Saturday. The race was closely contested over six laps, totalling 36km of racing. Kabush finished with a time of one hour, 39 minutes, 42 seconds.
Derek Zandstra finished second, giving Scott-3Rox the top two podium positions. Rocky Mountain’s Raphael Gagne finished third.
Early in the race, Evan Guthrie of the Norco Factory Team helped create an early break of seven riders, including Kabush, as well as 2013 Canadian champion Derek Zandstra, Max Plaxton, Raphael Gagne, Cameron Jette and Adam Morka.
“I just wanted to go out early and stay out of trouble I wanted to try to race from the front and attack as much as possible and see what would happen,” said Guthrie. “I’m in good form, probably the best I’ve ever been, so I wanted to prove what I could do.”
One heck of bike race at #canMTBchamps. Went for it today, stayed out front for 5/6 laps and finished up 5th. As a 1st year I’m pumped!
— Evan Guthrie (@EvanwGuthrie) July 19, 2014
“The competition has really stepped up this year,” said Plaxton. “We saw an interesting race. When it all came back together, I was just in the wrong spot. I’m happy, it’s been exciting racing.”
Ride of the day has to go to @EvanwGuthrie putting it all out there. Excited to see where you can go with a ride like that!
— Catharine Pendrel (@cpendrel) July 19, 2014
By the second lap, a selection from that group including Guthrie, Jette and Gagne had escaped and was pushing the pace. Kabush, Zandstra and Plaxton gave chase while Morka eventually dropped back.
“It was really great to see the level of men riding today,” said Kabush. “It was really good to see Cameron and Evan riding at such a strong pace. Derek and I tried to ride at an efficient pace to get to the finish line as fast as we could.”
By the midpoint of the race, the lead group had built a lead of nearly 30 seconds. It wasn’t until the end of the penultimate lap that the chase group began to claw back time. At the same point, Jette’s bike suffered a mechanical failure and he fell out of the lead group, losing nearly three minutes while running to the feed zone and tech area.
By the time he remounted his bike, Jette was well back of the leaders and simply fighting for position.
On the final lap, the lead and chase groups merged and the lead changed hands a few times, before things broke apart on the final large climb. Kabush put his head down and built a gap of a few seconds to cross the finish line alone.
“I knew it was going to be a really hard push, and that it was really coming down to the last five minutes,” said Kabush. “I had enough energy to really lay it down and focus to get a small gap to the finish.”
Zandstra had been unable to match Kabush on the climb and dropped back to second. Gagne finished third. Plaxton finished fourth while Guthrie rounded out the top five.
“It was a super tight battle this year,” said Zandstra. “We really didn’t sit up at all, but second and third lap, all of us had to take turns. We were all hurting and those guys kept pulling time on us. “It’s a long race, and we’re the veterans of the group, and we pulled up to them.”
Happy to win bronze today at Canadian national MTB championship. First elite podium and fought hard for the title. pic.twitter.com/ubJl1LNLIi
— Raphael Gagné (@raphaelgagne) July 19, 2014
The victory is the eighth Canadian title of Kabush’s career. He now holds the record for the most Canadian Elite Mountain Bike titles earned by one athlete. Previously, Alison Sydor held the record at seven, which Kabush tied in 2010.
“Titles are titles. I try not to keep track too much because they don’t give any advantage on the start line,” said Kabush. “I’m excited I had some good legs, and hopefully I can carry that forward into the World Cups coming up.”
One of closest battles for the maple leaf I’ve been in. Proud to be wearing this jersey for the next… http://t.co/V5VS76wDJs — Geoff Kabush (@GeoffKabush) July 19, 2014
In the men’s U23 race, the front of the field blew apart early in the race, with Mitch Bailey of Trek Canada and Leandre Bouchard of Cyclone d’Alma/Equipe du Quebec both escaping. The two battled for most of the five lap race, until the closing lap when Bailey was unable to match Bouchard’s pace.
“It was a big goal for me this season, and I succeeded,” said Bouchard. “We have a good group of riders in the espoir category in Canada. The course was very good this year, with a new school style which includes many artificial obstacles. It requires a lot of technical skills.”
Peter Disera finished third, a strong result for the young rider who is competing in his first season as a U23 rider.
