Raphaël Gagné wins men’s cross country race of the 2015 Pan Am Games

Raphaël Gagné won the gold medal at the men’s mountain bike race at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games. Gagné has dramatically improved his performances this season and the Pan Am victory is a new career high for the rider from Quebec City. Gagné finished the six lap, 31.2-km race in a time of one hour, 31 minutes, 14 seconds.

“This is definitely the biggest win of my career,” said Gagné. “It’s a confirmation of my form this year.

“I am a proud Canadian and I couldn’t believe the fan support out there. My hometown World Cup is Mont-Sainte-Anne, and I’ve never lived something like this.”

The Canadian had a strong start and quickly broke away with Catriel Soto of Argentina and American Stephen Ettinger. The three raced together for the first half of the race, trading the lead.

“The hardest thing here is maintaining speed through the tight twisty singletrack,” said Ettinger. “At about Lap 3, they were a little faster. One metre turned into 5 m and then into 10 seconds. I held it there and then on the last lap my goal was to make sure I stayed upright. Derek’s a strong rider and I didn’t want to let third fall apart.”

As Ettinger tired, Soto and Gagné dropped the American. It was a two-man race down to the wire.

“The Argentinian was really strong, and felt like he was the aggressor,” said Gagné. “He opened a gap of five seconds and I was able to pull it back, get myself together and then attack.”

Dan Proulx, the head coach for the national mountain bike team, offered some additional insight into the finish. That was not an easy win. Raphaël actually had the gap at about a quarter lap to go and then he smoked a tree,” said Proulx. “It stopped him dead, and it took him halfway off his bike. He had to get back on it and re-accelerate and open up the gap again.

“It’s pretty insane he was able to come through and win it.”

As Gagné rounded the final corners, the crowd erupted into cheers and Gagné lifted his arms to the sky in celebration.

“The course was very tough and technical,” said Soto, who finished second to claim the silver medal. “I didn’t really have the right bike for this course, but it suited my strengths. I am very happy to win a silver medal here. It’s my best Pan American performance ever.”

Gagné has changed his approach to preparation this season, which has clearly paid dividends. During the early season, Gagné won the USA Cycling US Cup title, which served as a morale booster heading into the Pan Am Games.

Fellow Canadian Derek Zandstra struggled in traffic on the first lap and burned most of his energy in a failed attempt to catch the three out front. In so doing, the rider from Trenton, Ont., built a large margin over fifth place.

“Right from the beginning, I got boxed in a bit and I had to do too many efforts to get through, and that burned me going into the second lap,” said Zandstra. “I tried to keep going strong because you never know. It’s good to come fourth, but a podium was the goal.”

The Canadian cycling team has had a strong start to the games, with Tory Nyhaug winning gold in men’s BMX on Saturday. Emily Batty and Catharine Pendrel claimed gold and silver respectively in the women’s cross country race earlier in the day.

2015 Pan Am men’s cross country mountain bike race