Christchurch teenager Winni Goldsbury has scored an outstanding breakthrough win in the Enduro MTB World Series in Leogang, Austria today.
The 19-year-old, in her first year fulltime in elite racing, dominated the 73km event, that incorporated six special stages and over 2000m in descending.
The Specialized Racing rider established a 20 second lead after winning the opening two special stages, including coping with a flat tyre on stage two.
Godfrey saw her lead reduced to 16 seconds on Great Britain’s defending world champion Ella Conolly after the fourth stage, but the kiwi rider pushed that out to 30 seconds after the challenging penultimate stage.
She protected her advantage to win by 16 seconds to secure her first elite victory.
“That’s insane. It feels so good, I didn’t expect this at all,” said an ecstatic Goldsbury after the event.
“Thanks to all those people who have helped me, especially Charlie Murray. I even had a flat tyre on stage two. Amazing.”
Fellow New Zealand rider George Swift, the E-bike enduro world champion, finished 10th.
National champion Joe Millington (Rotorua) was 25th in the elite men ahead of Tauranga’s Asher Hart 30th and Bradley Harris (Alexandra) 39th, while Nelson’s Nico Schroder did not finish in junior men.
The third round in the UCI Enduro World Series is in two weeks at Val de Fassa, Trentino in the famed Dolomites of northern Italy.
Results: Winni Godfrey (Specialized, NZL) 29:08.310, 1; Ella Conolly (GBR) at 24.078, 2; Melanie Pugin (FRA) at 33.406, 3. Also: George Swift (NZL) at 2:51.858, 10.
Winni Godfrey celebrates her elite women’s win in the UZCI MTB Enduro World Series in Leogang, Austria. (Credit: UCI)