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Rochette crashed by young spectator at Hittnau EKZ CrossTour but remains upbeat after fourth

The Pan Am and Canadian champion rode through most of the field after a hard fall and looks forward to other opportunities in European campaign

A day after finishing 13th at the Tabor UCI Cyclocross World Cup, Pan Am and Canadian champion Maghalie Rochette crashed in the opening moments of Hittnau EKZ CrossTour. Rochette would go on to finish fourth after riding through most of the field following the crash to salvage a result. The race held in the small town in Switzerland didn’t have barriers on the narrow starting straight and a young spectator allegedly caused Rochette and Elen Wyman to go down.

“I don’t really know what happened cause it happened so quickly. One second I was up, the next second I was on the ground with a pile of women on me,” Rochette said about the crash.

“From what people say, a kid walked on the course, I hit him with my wheel, went over the bars and straight into a pole with my shoulder. My bike flew and took out a bunch of other people,” she said about the crash that she luckily was able to ride away from.

At Saturday’s World Cup, Rochette didn’t have the best of starts either getting caught in a long line of riders trying to make it up a steep but very short runup. She rebounded from the slow up to make-up a lot of ground to finish 13th. Sunday certainly didn’t go any better. After getting up from the crash, Rochette worked her way through much of the field. According to Rochette’s fiance and mechanic David Gagnon the crash was in part caused by the narrow starting straight that was only six metres wide and featured a gravel turn just 150 m in.

“I almost abandoned but then I realized I was okay and decided to keep going. Unfortunately, Helen Wyman also crashed and she didn’t feel OK so she had to stop,” Rochette said. “When I got on my bike, I was dead last and couldn’t even see another rider. So I started chasing.”

Rochette was able to make up a lot of ground passing riders on each lap ultimately finishing fourth. On the last lap, she had Christine Majerus in her sights but a small error stopped her from making it onto the podium. Despite the setback, Rochette was still very upbeat saying she loved the courses big climbs and descents. Despite enjoying racing the course, there was still some disappointment.

“After the race, I was pretty frustrated and bummed about the crash and the result. I really wanted more,” she said. “But I am happy about how I felt and how I rode.”

Rochette is on a three-month-long campaign in Europe after a good start to her season in North America where she won both days at the UCI races in Rochester, the Pan Am championship title and the Canadian elite women’s title.

“The good news is I’m here for a while still so I’ll have other opportunities to get a good result!”