UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – TRACK, ROAD, MTB, BMX, PARA-CYCLING – GLASGOW – NZ WRAP DAY 8
Cambridge professional Sam Gaze dominated the field to successfully defend his short-course cross-country world title at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Scotland today.
Gaze, who rides for the Alpecin-Deceuninck professional team, doubled down on his UCI short-track mountain bike world title in France in 2022 along with the marathon world title, with an emphatic win in Scotland today.
The championships are part of the “Super Worlds” featuring all 13 UCI cycling disciplines staging respective world championships over 11 days in and around Glasgow.
The kiwi mountain biker was in the front throughout and when he put the hammer down, was able to ride away, holding off a sprint finish from Victor Koretzky (FRA) to claim the rainbow jersey at Glentress, in the Tweed Valley of the Scottish Borders. Great Britain’s Olympic champion, Tom Pidcock came through the field for third.
The victory came as a relief for Gaze, who has been unable to convert hard-working preparation into form on race day in key World Cup races this year.
“I’ve been struggling with my condition the whole season and feels like almost nothing has been working, so to come in with my best possible shape into the world championships – I am really happy about it,” said Gaze.
“The track had a bit of everything – super-technical, super-fast but also the climb made it an attritional race. Even if it is only 20 minutes, it is about how you carry yourself in that first portion is what you have left in the last lap.
“It’s a really good course and I am very happy to finish it off and have my second world title in a row in this event.”
Gaze moved to the front quickly and remained close to the lead throughout to control the pace, rather than a fast finish from behind late in the race.
“It was a very tactical race. For me, I felt it was the safest to ride it from the front, and I could ride my tempo and almost recover a little bit between the climbs.”
His fellow New Zealand riders Anton Cooper and Ben Oliver were also in excellent form, finishing 10th and 11th respectively in the front group behind Gaze.
They both started on the fourth row with Cooper (Trek Factory) working his way through the field consistently with a burst at the end to claim a top-10 finish. Oliver (Mito-Q) started from 35th on the grid and was still in that bunch until mid-race when he made his move, and was fastest in the field for two laps as he moved from 24th up to 11th to also give confidence for Sunday’s cross-country race.
It proved a repeat win for French veteran Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, who won the women’s title for a second straight year ahead of in-form Puck Pieterse (NED) and Great Britain’s Evie Richards.
ROAD TIME TRIAL
The New Zealand women were in action in the road time trial in the medieval city of Stirling, the scene of the battle when William Wallace led the defeat of the English.
Multi-national champion Georgia Williams, who rides for World Tour team EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, placed 20th in the elite women’s time trial over 36.4kms, with Oceania champion Georgia Perry from Waikato in 33rd.
Williams, the Commonwealth Games medallist last year, started fast to be sixth quickest through the time check, but could not sustain that pace, finishing with an average 43kph.
Auckland’s Ella Wylie, an emerging World Tour rider with Wahoo-Lifeplus, was an impressive eighth place in the under-23 contest, run in conjunction with the elite competition. She had a conservative start but finished among the best in the field for her final eighth placing, averaging 41kph for the 36km test.
Earlier Maia Barclay and Muireann Green placed 29th and 33rd respectively in the junior women’s time trial won by Australian Felicity Wilson-Haffenden.
Tomorrow’s road action includes the junior time trial over 22.8km featuring kiwis Elliot Robertson and Noah Hollamby, and elite men over 48kms with Tom Sexton (Bolton Equities Black Spoke).
Action at mountain bike cross-country features the men’s under-23 race with Matthew Wilson and Ethan Rose, and the under-23 women with fifth-ranked Samara Maxwell and Mia Cameron.
Results:
Junior women’s road individual time trial: Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (AUS) 19:31, 1; Isabel Sharp (GBR) at 16.9s, 2; Federica Venturelli (ITA) at 29.30, 3. Also NZers: Maia Barclay at 2:10.17, 29; Muireann Green at 3:21.85, 39.
Elite women’s time trial (36.2km): Chloe Dygert (USA) 46.59.80, 1; Grace Brown (AUS) at 5.67s, 2; Christina Schweinberger (AUS) 1:12.95, 3. Also NZers: Georgia Williams at 3:11.39, 20; Georgia Perry at 4:33.86, 33.
Under-23: Antonia Niedermaier (GER) 49:27.26, 1; Cedrine Kerbaol (FRA) at 7.85s, 2; Julie de Wilde (BEL) at 39.13s, 3. Also: Ella Wylie (NZL) at 3:19.26, 8.