Pendrel and Gagné win 2015 Canadian XCO titles
St-Félicien, QUÉBEC – Catharine Pendrel won the elite women’s XCO mountain bike Canadian championship race on Saturday on a muddy course at the Vélo2Max mountain bike centre in St-Félicien, Québec. The Team LUNA rider started strong and led the race from start to a solo finish.
Pendrel finished the five 4.2km laps in one hour, 31 minutes, 5.9 seconds. By the time she reached the finish, Pendrel’s white world champion jersey was brown with mud, but Pendrel was all smiles.
“I tried to balance going as hard as I could climbing while staying safe and upright everywhere,” said Pendrel, acknowledging the difficult conditions. “This is where I won my very first nationals in 2009, and I had a really special win here in 2012.”
Emily Batty of Trek Factory Racing started well, but found she was losing time to Pendrel on certain sections of the course, and was unable to regain the losses elsewhere. Slowly but surely, Batty dropped back and settled into second place.
“Today I was feeling good, and Catharine and I were right together from the get go,” said Batty. “I was riding really well, but she had a bit more gas on the climbs. Second is not what I came for, but I am competing against a world champion, so it’s never going to be easy.”
Rounding out the podium, Liv/Giant racer Sandra Walter rode largely on her own through most of the race. Walter has tended to slot into a class of her own, ahead of most of the field, but behind Pendrel and Batty. Despite a couple of bobbles in the tricky conditions, Walter went uncontested to finish third.
“It’s probably easier when you’re racing on your own because you can ride your own pace and really choose your own lines,” said Walter. “We knew conditions would be different today, and it really made it like a brand new course.”
The women’s U23 title was won by Norco’s Haley Smith. The Ontarian had a slow start but was able to work with Frédérique Trudel to overhaul the leader. Once they shared the lead, Smith and Trudel battled for the leader’s position. Smith attacked on a false summit and formed a lead she maintained to the finish line. Catherine Fleury had led the race early on, but dropped to third place overall.
“It was a really hard fought battle which is why I am so happy with this win,” said Smith. “I know where my strongest point is, and so I knew I had to give it everything I had to play to my strengths.”
Rocky Mountain athlete Raphaël Gagné has proven this season so far is his. The 2015 US Cup champion arrived in St-Félicien straight from winning gold at the Pan Am games last weekend. Once the race was underway, Gagné quickly built up a such a lead as to make the race his to lose.
Gagné showed excellent maturity, pacing himself in the tricky conditions to capture his first Canadian elite title.
“I’ve had this win in my mind since 2010,” said Gagné. “Dealing with the fatigue and pressure of expectations after winning Pan Ams and ten winning here is a great feeling. I didn’t crash at all, and only came loose on one corner in the whole race.”
Second place in the men’s elite race belonged to Leandré Bouchard who held second uncontested following the first lap. Bouchard is from Alma, Québec, just an hour’s drive from St-Félicien. He spent much of the lead up to nationals training at Vélo2Max and used his local knowledge to finish on the second step of the podium in his first year in elite. Bouchard had previously won three U23 titles.
“It was a perfect way to go today, to ride on my own,” said Bouchard. “I was a little worried about the guys fighting for third but I had strong legs and was good to the finish. They were pretty close most of the race – 10 to 15 seconds – but I was able to open a bit of gap, which was good because I had a flat front tire on the last lap.”
Despite a tough start, Evan McNeely settled into a good rhythm and worked his way through the field to slot into third place, ahead of Norco teammate Evan Guthrie, who finished fourth.
With Jérémy Martin finishing fifth, three of the top five finishers in the men’s elite were in the U23 division last year. Guthrie is only in his second season of elite, perhaps indicating a change in the dominance of this generation.
“There’s about six of us that are all the same age and we’ve been racing each other for the last seven years or so,” said McNeely. “We’ve been pushing each other for the last seven years, and it’s really showing how that mutual competition has pushed us all forward.”
Alexandre Vialle won the men’s U23 title ahead of Peter Disera. The pair traded the lead over the five lap race, though Disera was unable to hang onto the lead over the final two laps. Marc-Antoine Nadon finished third in U23.
It was a frustrating day for the Scott-3Rox elite men’s team. Both Derek Zandstra and Geoff Kabush have won natioanl titles, with Kabush entering the event as reigning champion. However, Zandstra withdrew after just one lap. The Ontarian had been suffering from a fever for three days leading into the event. Kabush also never managed to settle into his usual fast pace, and fell down the order to finish ninth. Cameron Jette was in a top five position until he suffered a flat. With a fresh wheel and tire, he worked his way back to finish eighth.
Though Friday’s training session took place under sunny skies, rainclouds rolled in overnight turning the course into a slippery, muddy challenge. The main racing line was mostly tacky mud, but roots and rocks in the technical sections made things very treacherous, as well as flat switchback corners.
Most of the top riders will get a short break before returning to Quebec for the Mont Sainte Anne World Cup stop in two weeks. Be sure to follow our coverage of the 25th anniversary of the Mont Sainte Anne World Cup.
