New Zealand’s downhill mountain bike riders produced another beacon performance across all finals at the latest round of the UCI Whoop MTB World Series in La Thuile, nestled in the Italian Alps.
Promising Hawkes Bay rider Tyler Waite (Yeti-Fox Factory) was third in the junior men’s final, and moves to second overall midway through the 10-round season.
He was joined by fourth placings for elite Lachie Stevens-McNab (Trek Factory), his second of the season, and emerging talent Kate Hastings (Pivot Factory) in junior women – both riders from Rotorua.
Joining them was Queenstown’s Jess Blewitt (Cube Factory) who was seventh in the elite women to move into the top-10 overall.
Waite showed his consistency to record his fourth top-four finish in five junior men’s finals with an excellent showing. He was conservative at the start but unleashed an outstanding second half of the ride down the dry, rutted track to finish 4.740s from the winner Till Alran (FRA).
He is now second overall, only eight points behind the leader.
There were four kiwis in the top-12 in the junior men’s final with Tyler joined by Jonty Williamson (Palmerston North, Yeti-Fox) sixth, Malik Boatwright (Queenstown) eighth, and Leogang winner Oli Clark (Kaikoura, MS-Racing) 12th.
Stevens-McNab, who had to go through the second qualifying session to make the final, let it rip in his finals performance. Fourth rider away, he produced his usual lightening start and maintained that pace over the rutted tree-roots to move to the top of the standings.
He sat atop of the hot seat as the next 12 riders could not match his time before he was edged back to fourth overall by the last three rides, topped by brilliant Canadian Jackson Goldstone.
Stevens-McNab moves to 12th overall with his third final in five starts this season.
It was a similar story for Queenstown’s multi national champion, Blewitt in the elite women. The Cube Factory rider set a fast early pace, bagging another top-10 finish seven seconds from winner Nina Hoffman (GER) to move into the top-10, having scored points in four of her five races this season.
There were plaudits for a remarkable performance from two-time junior world champion, Erice van Leuven with the Norco Race teenager finishing 11th in the elite final. She only recently returned from five months rehabilitation off the bike from injury, and in her second race moving to the elite ranks.
New Zealand’s factory in junior women, which van Leuven led in recent years, continued with four kiwis finishing in the top-10 at La Thuile.
They were led by Rotorua teenager Kate Hastings who finished fourth in the final, to move to seventh overall after scoring in her last three rounds in her first season in the world series.
Fellow Rotorua rider Bellah Birchall (Team High Country) was fifth, with Queenstown’s Indy Deavoll sixth and Tauranga’s Eliana Hulsebosch eighth. The Santa Cruz Syndicate rider had set the pace in her run, fastest on the course at that stage, before hitting a tree root and falling. She recovered quickly to finish her run, to be fourth in the overall rankings, just 20 points off second.
Birchall moves up to fifth and Hastings seventh with five round remaining.
There is no break for the gravity riders who move to the sixth round this weekend at altitude in Pal Arinsal, Andorra with a joint round with cross-country.
Results:
Downhill Final Round 5, Junior women: Aletha Ostgaard (USA) 4:08.157, 1; Rosa Zierl (AUT) at 2.445, 2; Matilda Melton (USA) at 2.831, 3. Also NZ Riders: Kate Hastings (Rotorua) at 7.109, 4; Bellah Birchall (Rotorua, Team High Country) at 9.354, 5; Indy Deavoll (Queenstown) at 10.275, 6; Eliana Hulsebosch (Tauranga, Santa Cruz Synd) at 17.502, 8.
Junior men: Till Alran (FRA) 3:28.265, 1; Asa Vermette (USA) at 1.569, 2; Tyler Waite (Hawkes Bay, Yeti-Fox Factory) at 4.740, 3. Also: Jonty Williamson (Palmerston North, Yeti-Fox) at 7.802, 6; Malik Boatwright (Queenstown) at 9.570, 8; Oli Clark (Kaikoura, MS-Racing) at 12.562, 12.
Elite women: Nina Hoffmann (GER) 3:57.934, 1; Valentina Holl (AUT) at 2.994, 2; Gracey Hemstreet (CAN) at 3.199, 3. Also NZers: Jess Blewitt (Queenstown, Cube Factory) at 7.284, 7; Erice van Leuven (Wellington, Norco Race) at 14.929, 11.
Elite men: Jackson Goldstone (CAN) 3:27.134, 1; Loris Vergier (FRA) at 0.604, 2; Loic Bruni (FRA) at 1.039, 3. Also: Lachie Stevens-McNab (Rotorua, Trek Factory) at 3.096, 4.