05.18.08 - Canada Cup XC #1

It was Canada's future stars who claimed the top spots on the podium at the opening round of the Canada Cup cross-country series in Bromont, Quebec on Saturday. Under-23 riders Raphael Gagne (Rocky Mountain) and Emily Batty (Trek Store) beat the elite competition convincingly on a hot, dusty and surprisingly difficult circuit to take the leader's jerseys for the Canada Cup.

In the women's six lap race, Batty rode off the front immediately on the first main climb, opening a 15 second gap on Amanda Sin (3 Rox Racing), which later stabilized at 30 seconds, before increasing in the final two laps to over one minute. Behind Sin, Jean-Ann McKirdy (Rocky Mountain) took control of third place, and was closing in on Sin with a lap to go before fading in the last lap.

"I looked behind me at the top of the climb and I had a gap, so I just kept going," explained Batty. "It was a fun course, but you had to pay attention in the rocks, and at the end I was losing track of the laps."

In the men's eight lap race three riders immediately separated themselves from the field - Gagne, Derek Zandstra (3 Rox Racing) and Mat Toulouse (Maxxis). Behind, Eric Batty (Trek Store), Stefan Widmer
(Rocky Mountain) and Adam Morka (3 Rox Racing) were chasing, but losing ground.

"They were dropping me by maybe 5 or 10 seconds each time on the first and second climb," said Gagne, "but each time I could catch them easily on the descent. This was my first real race of the season, so I was
being a little more conservative in the early part of the race."

His conservatism served him well, as both Toulouse and Zandstra flatted at inopportune moments, allowing Gagne to establish a gap. Zandstra flatted on the third lap and had to stop in the technical service zone
for a new wheel. He quickly caught up to Toulouse, and the two were chasing Gagne when the Maxxis rider suffered his own flat. Toulouse dropped well back and eventually finished 11th.

Zandstra recovered well to pull to within 50 seconds of Gagne by the finish for second, while Emily Batty's older brother Eric (Trek Store) worked his way up steadily through the field to take third place ahead
of a late surge by Andrew Watson (Team Ontario).

In the Junior Men's six lap race, it was Team BC finishing 1-2, with Evan Guthrie leading almost from start to finish, followed by Tyler Allison, with local Charlevoix rider Nicolas Tremblay in third.

The Junior Women's race was marred by an unfortunate and costly mistake by Bianca Adolf (Team BC). Adolf took the lead of the four lap (shortened on the line by one lap) race early on, and was three minutes up on second place Leah Kirchmann (Team Manitoba) coming into the finish. However, she headed out for another lap instead of across the finish line. A discussion over giving the win to Adolf ensued, but it was correctly pointed out that the rules require the rider to cross the line.