New Zealand mountainbikers faced a sodden and muddy course for downhill finals at the UCI world cup in France yesterday.
Like many others, the Kiwi gravity riders did not fare well on the treacherous Le Gets track, especially the junior riders earlier in the day, forced to cope with low visibility and mud.
Best was Hawke’s Bay teenager Tyler Waite, who finished third in the junior men’s final.
The Yeti-Fox Factory rider set the benchmark, off early in the final after struggling in qualifying. His time remained the fastest until the final two riders edged him, led by Frenchman Max Alran, who maintained his lead in the junior men’s championship.
Waite moved clear in second ahead of the Frenchman’s brother, Til, with three rounds remaining.
Compatriots Oli Clark (Kaikoura) and Jonty Williamson (Palmerston North) were fifth and seventh respectively, to lie fourth and fifth respectively in the standings.
It was not so rewarding in the junior women with the only New Zealand starter in the final, Tauranga rider Eliana Hulsebosch, disqualified.
The Santa Cruz syndicate teenager was ruled to have ridden around a pole on a final jump but remains third overall in the standings.
However, fellow New Zealand juniors Indy Deavoll, Kate Hastings and Bellah Birchall are all out injured, as is elite woman Sasha Earnest.
Rotorua rider Jenna Hastings was eighth in the elite women in her first top-10 finish in an impressive ride in the conditions.
Compatriot Jess Blewitt (Queenstown) finished 12th but remains in the top 10 in the overall standings.
Ireland’s Ronan Dunne won the elite men’s final in his return to the top level ahead of the experienced Martin Maes (Belgium), both handling the muddy conditions best.
Rotorua’s Lachlan Stevens-McNab, the only New Zealand rider in the elite men’s final, finished in the top 20 and remains 13th overall in the standings.
There is no time for a break after the wet and wild weekend. The downhill riders trudge their way out of the mud at Les Gets to nearby Valais, in Switzerland, to prepare for the world championships.
— Allied Media
