Lene wins and takes Overall World Cup Leader’s Jersey on her Specialized Era

Following wet & cold conditions last week in Mont Saint Anne, the venue for next year’s World Championships, the hope and wishes were for sunny conditions here in Bromont. Although, there was rain, especially on Thursday, the sun managed to break through over the past two days, leaving dry conditions for yesterday’s 4 Cross and Downhill action, where Sam Hill placed 3rd and still maintains his lead in the overall world cup standings.

The cross-country course is still wet, but has been drying out rapidly. This could lead to sticky muddy conditions ahead of the men’s and women’s races later today. Lene has opted for Sauserwinds, a tire suited to these types of conditions, while the men will wait and monitor the women’s race and subsequent course, before making their final decisions.

I have been away from quite a few world cups this year, although the team has been doing well without me. The very relaxed, yet focused atmosphere when required is still there with Burry and Todd bringing a wit and humor to the team, which keeps everybody smiling. There’s many a prank and one’s needs to be on guard! Earlier this week Susi managed to fall into a stream and was none too pleased, but we’ll leave that story for another day, albeit to say that Burry, Todd and Benno laughed hard!

The backup team of Benno, Claire, Sandy and Dylan are doing a superb job, resulting in a team that runs like clockwork. After Bromont, the team go into World Championship mode, with Christoph at Marathon Worlds in a few weeks and then the entire team traveling to Australia for the World Championships. Although, the season is past the half way point, there’s a lot of key events ahead.

Women’s Race 11:45am (5 laps): Lene wins and takes Overall World Cup Leader’s Jersey on her Specialized Era

It was relatively warm and humid at the start of the ladies race today, which featured five laps over a course with a major climb early on, a good descent and more undulating terrain following that.

“The course has two parts, with the first part having one long uphill and then down, while the next part is more technical. My Specialized Era was awesome, especially in the second part of the course where there were so many bumps and roots. I made so much time here, which was largely due to my superior equipment” commented Lene.

Early on and Fullana set the tempo with Lene about 40’’ off the pace in about 8th position. “My start was a regular start, nothing extra fast or slow”. Although, in the initial racing moves it looked like Lene was off the pace, that did not last long and by the second lap she was just 18’’ off the lead of Kalientieva, but looking the strongest rider of the field.

Fullana meanwhile crashed forcing her withdrawal with a suspected broken foot, which was later given the all clear. Kalientieva was pushing the pace, but Lene although never attacking kept her pace and form and easily dealt with the Russian. “Before the race I checked a Norwegian Weather Channel, which stated that there was going to be heavy rain from 11am here in Bromont, so I made sure to have my Specialized Sauserwind mud tires”. The weather prediction was accurate with the small drops soon turning into very heavy rain. The weather, something Lene is accustomed to given her Norwegian background did not deter her. Once Lene took the lead on lap two there was no going back and she continued to build on her lead all the way to the finish.

Lene’s win is the first on a Specialized S Works Era, the first in her career and to top it all off she has taken over the leaders jersey in the overall world cup rankings. “The leaders jersey is an extra bonus I did not expect”!!!

Mens Race 14:30pm (6 laps):

The hope of good weather was dealt a final blow half way during the women’s race when the rain started to pour and never stopped. Sudden tire choice changes had to be made and the lap count was reduced from 7 to 6. While I was on my way to hospital with Lene in order to get her knee stitched up and cleaned, the men were starting.

The men’s race as always was fast from the gun, but with weather as it was, the conditions were grim and a long queue formed early on. Susi, Todd and Burry were always inside the top twenty, with Burry close at times to top five, while the Scott duo of Vogel and Schurter pushed the pace at the front.

“I felt good on the climbs and seemed to be always closing, but with a rear brake failure on the last lap I was loosing too much ground” commented Sauser. Burry was pleased with his performance, although as he pointed out himself it was also not his best performance. He still managed to win the under 23 category, which is a great feat in itself. Todd was very pleased with his top ten after a disappointing result last week. “I knew I had the form last week, just died on the last lap, so I am very pleased with a top ten this week” commented Wells.

Julien Absalon had launched a typical solo attack off the front in his usual fashion, but a broken chain left the door open for Geoff Kabush, who took a well deserved win on home soil. Jose Hermida placed a great second, thereby passing Burry in the overall rankings, which will lead to an interesting battle over the final two rounds.