New Zealand mountain biker Samara Maxwell dug deep to finish third in the penultimate race of the UCI MTB World Series at Lake Placid in USA today.
The 23-year-old Taupo rider recovered from an average 14th place in the short track race, fighting her way up from the second row of the grid to claim third in the XCO race today.
It means that the Decathlon Ford professional will take a 183 point lead into the final round of the World Series next weekend in Mont Sainte Anne near Quebec, Canada.
Maxwell dropped 140 points of her significant lead at Lake Placid this weekend with both short track and XCO race won by UCI World Champion Jenny Rissveds.
The Swedish star looms as the only significant challenger to the kiwi who is looking to become the first New Zealand elite rider to claim a UCI MTB World Series title.
Rissveds went into top gear from the get-go today, leading from the front, opening a two minute advantage on the field, to win unchallenged in 1:20.15.
The key battle was with the young kiwi star, who started off the second row after her indifferent short track result. Maxwell worked her way calmly through the field until lap five, when she turned up the heat, moving to challenge for the top three. A brilliant penultimate lap saw off all but Great Britain’s Evie Richards who produced the fastest lap of the race to grab second behind Rissveds.
However Maxwell rode a 10:40 final lap, second fastest to the British star, to ensure her of third place, which could prove vital in her title chase.
American Christopher Blevins took out the elite men’s honours in front of a home crowd, with Sam Gaze the best of the kiwis, battling through from the seventh row of the grid to finish 17th with fellow kiwi Anton Cooper 36th.
Earlier Trek Future rider Ethan Rose was 36th in the under-23 men’s cross-country with fell Cantabrian Amelie Mackay 31st in the under-23 women.
Results: Elite female: Jenny Rissveds (SWE) 1:20.15, 1; Evie Richards (GBR) 1:22.13, 2; Samara Maxwell (NZL, Decathlon Ford) 1:22.46, 3.
Overall Standings: Maxwell 2103, Rissveds 1920, Alessandra Keller 1710.
