UCI MOUNTAIN BIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – DAY 1 TORPEDO7 NZ TEAM WRAP
Rotorua teenager Jenna Hastings led the Torpedo7 New Zealand Mountain Bike team performances on a challenging opening day of the UCI World Championships in France.
Hastings, third in the World Cup standings for junior women’s downhill, was second fastest in qualifying on the opening day of competition at Les Gets, a ski resort in the Alps.
Otherwise, it proved a tough day for the kiwis with injuries and crashes thwarting some major hopes. World No 3 ranked junior Lachlan Stevens-McNab had a nasty fall in qualifying for downhill with wrist and back injuries that has required surgery, while fellow Rotorua rider Tuhoto-Ariki Pene injured his wrist during practice yesterday and was unable to start in elite men’s qualifying.
Hastings led the way with her qualifying run in the junior women’s downhill to be second fastest behind defending champion Izavela Yankova (BUL) to now focus on the weekend final, with fellow Rotorua rider Caitlin Flavell 12th to make the final.
The YD Racing quartet of Alex Wayman (Christchurch), Cameron Beck (Rotorua), Nico Arnold (Wanaka) and Carter Wiffin (Hawkes Bay) were all inside the top 60 qualifiers for the final in junior men.
With the crash for last year’s podium placegetter Stevens-McNab, Wayman led the way to be 10thfastest in qualifying with Beck 22, Arnold 50 and Wiffin 56.
Five elite men are through on the dry, exposed and dusty track, with two-time national champion George Brannigan (NS Bikes UR) leading the way in 35th fastest time. He was followed by Brook MacDonald (MS Mondraker) 40th, Sam Blenkinsop (NORCO Factory) 41st, Hayden Stead 70th and Ed Masters (Pivot) 71st – all inside the top 80 to make the final.
National champion Jess Blewitt (GT Factory) from Queenstown was eighth fastest in qualifying in the elite women with Wanaka’s Kalani Muirhead also set for the weekend final.
It proved a super-busy day for Torpedo7 New Zealand team management with racing starting on the cross-country course for juniors. Taupo’s Mia Cameron had a strong final lap to place 38th overall in the junior women while Motueka’s Ethan Woods and Taupo’s James Officer were further back to be a lap down in the junior men.
Tonight’s action focusses on the e-bike race with Charlie Millington (Auckland) and Charles Murray (Rotorua) in action, while Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sam Gaze (Alpecin Deceununick) is the sole New Zealander in the Torpedo7 New Zealand team to contest the short-track world championship race.
CAPTION: Ethan Woods in action in the junior cross-country racing at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Les Gets, France today. (Credit: Rob Jones).