There was one last XC round to go in the World Cup before the games in Rio next week. This stop, the legendary Mont-Sainte-Anne. Many of the top riders had already headed to Brazil and will be resting up and letting the efforts of their training settle before the biggest event in four years. For those who headed to this round, they were greeted by humid weather with off and on rain showers. Notably missing were Schurter, Rissveds, and Neff.
Catharine Pendrel got out fast and all but walked away with women's race. Gunn-Rita showed she is in touch heading into the Games with a solid second place performance. Emily Batty rode to third place in front of an ecstatic home crowd. Julien Absalon wasn't afraid to keep racing right before Rio and found himself battling for the better part of three laps with Mathias Fluckiger. Mathias would have to settle for third after being overtaken by Victor Koretzky. Now we have to wait a week and see just who comes away with the big gold in Rio.
With Saturday's dust still settling from the downhill races, Mont-Sainte-Anne started to get ready for another day of racing. The women's U23 field had been rescheduled to start two minutes after the women's elite field. Due to this we have a slightly reduced exposure for the U23 field as it makes it very difficult to get all the images we'd love to take.
MENTIONS:
@mdelorme /
@ikeizer
The men's will be Schurter's to lose.