Two Canadians finished on the podium at the Mont Ste Anne World Cup Downhill on Saturday, with Finnley Iles (Specialized Gravity) finishing second in the Junior men, and Miranda Miller (Specialized SRAM) fifth in the women. in the Elite men, Mark Wallace (Devinci Global racing) was the top Canadian, in 25th place.
MSA continues to be one of the longest and most physically demanding runs on the World Cup circuit. Usually, mud and slippery roots are a factor, however, this year dry conditions leading up to and during race day made the course dusty and full of loose gravel. There were many flats suffered, and more than a few crashes.
Iles, with three wins this season, was the rider to beat, and qualified fastest. However, he was beat by the slimmest of margins when the number two ranked rider, Gaetan Vige (Commencal/Vallnord) won by 0.031 seconds – 31/thousandths. Elliott Heap (Chain Reaction) was third and Team Canada’s Magnus Manson was fourth. Iles continues to lead the standings with 260 points, followed by Vige at 225, with Manson moving into tenth.
“Today was pretty good,” said Iles, “I rode almost like I wanted to, but I think I was too conservative in the middle. It was really close at the end, and you always feel regret when you are that close. I’m not surprised, because these other guys are fast. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.”
The women’s race unfolded as predicted, with Rachel Atherton (Trek Factory) scoring a remarkable 12th consecutive World Cup win, sewing up the World Cup title in the process with one race remaining. Atherton finished over 11 seconds ahead of Tracey Hannah (Polygon UR), with Tahnee Seagrave (Transition Factory) taking third. Miller, the Canadian champion, had her second straight World Cup podium result, and was sitting in third for the first half of her run until a mistake cost her time. Atherton now has an insurmountable 1470 points, followed by Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen) at 990 and Hannah at 930. Miller moves up from 16th to 11th in the standings.
For Miller, it is her second World Cup podium of the season. “I’ve only done two World Cups this season, but two races, two podiums is a good average. Things are going well this season … I don’t really know why, but I think maybe I have a better race mind this year. This is the first time I’ve ridden Mont Ste Anne in the dust, but any condition it’s my favourite track. I had pretty good splits at the top but I goofed a bit in one of the lower rock gardens and blew my foot off [the pedal] … it’s frustrating but that’s racing.”
Original post by Cycling Canada
