It was a catch-up race that Léandre Bouchard (Foresco Holding Proco RL Pro Team) had to do on Sunday at the Mountain Bike World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Caught in a fall from the start of the event, he was relegated to 98th place to slowly climb back to the front of the race and finish in 56th place (6 min 01 s).
The Swiss and world champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) won and rewrote the record books by becoming the most successful male athlete in the Olympic Cross-Country World Cup with 34 victories. He beat South African Alan Hatherly (15s) and Frenchman Jordan Sarrou (16mins).
Raphaël Auclair (Pivot Cycles – OTE, 6 min 49 s) finished not far behind Bouchard in 62nd place, while Victor Verreault (Foresco Holding Proco RL Pro Team), 86th (-1 lap) and Anthony Audet, 98th (-3 laps) were removed from the course by the marshals because they were too late.
“I was hoping for a good result, because it’s a course that suits me well. On the other hand, from the start, I left with two holds against me,” Bouchard explained of the crash that occurred in front of him. “I was not responsible, but I was the victim. I was hit in a hip and an elbow, and a brake lever got caught in someone’s wheel. I came back quite far, but I had good legs and I really came back. I had gas! »
The Alma athlete still had to be patient to move up the rankings, because several competitors were in front of him and he could not overtake competitors everywhere on the course.
“I was going one runner at a time and that was encouraging because on some climbs it was possible to pass four or five at the same time. »
The Rio Games Olympian’s 2022 season was marked by a fall in training on the eve of the first World Cup. The pneumothorax and broken ribs that followed did not only leave physical sequelae. They also had an impact on his international ranking.
Fewer international points means being relegated further on the starting lines and also no longer participating in criterium races (Short Track), another opportunity to accumulate points.
“I hope to have access to Short Track races soon and take less risk on the starts. I’m taking it one step at a time. […] I feel that I am in much better shape than last year. It’s reassuring and I’m in the process of rediscovering the sensations that I may have had in 2021, which had been a good year for me. As a friend says: It’s like a vicious circle to get caught in the sardine can. Except that there, I have the form to get out of it. »
Laurie Arseneault (Pittstop Racing Team), from Terrebonne, was the best Quebecer in the women’s elite race, finishing 63rd (-1 lap). Roxanne Vermette ranked 75th (-2 laps) and Juliette Tétreault 80th (-2 laps).
Jennifer Jackson signed the best Canadian result with a 39th place (7 min 13 s). The French Loanna Lecomte was the first to cross the finish line.
In women under 23, Ophélie Grandmont (11 min 55 s), Marie-Fay St-Onge (12 min 10 s) and Juliette Larose-Gingras (12 min 41 s) made a group shot and respectively finished in 52nd, 53rd and 54th places.
Finally, for the men under 23, Zorak Paillé (Pittstop Racing Team, 7:51) and Zachary Brunelle (-1 lap) finished 66th and 110th in the event where British Columbian Carter Woods took second place, just 2 seconds behind the winner, the Swiss Dario Lillo.
The next stop on the mountain bike cross-country World Cup circuit is next weekend in Leongang-Salzburgerland, Austria.
