U23 Rider Peter Disera Surprises Elites with Canadian XC Title
Peter Disera (Norco Factory), Canada's top Under-23 rider, decided to race the Elite category on Saturday at the Canadian XCO Championships Canmore, Alberta and upset the field to take the title.
The Canmore Nordic Centre, site of the 1988 Olympic cross-country skiing events, remains as spectacular as ever, with a backdrop of the Kananaskis Country mountains leading into the Banff National Park.
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The area has been spared the terrible forest fires ravaging the B.C. interior, and threats of smoke did not materialise. The circuit has been revised substantially from when the Championships were held in 2010 and 2011, reflecting the change to shorter courses at the World Cup and world championship level. The previous course measured 6.8 kilometres, while the current circuit is four kilometres in length, looping back into the main finish bowl area multiple times.
The men's race had no clear favourite. Defending champion Derek Zandstra (Cannondale-3Rox) and his wife had their first child less than a month ago, and his form was clearly suffering. Leandre Bouchard (BH SR Suntour KMC) has been the most consistent on the World Cup circuit, while former champion Raphael Gagne (Cannondale-3Rox) had a good early season before struggling in May and June. Disera, although an Under-23 aged rider, has four top-10 finishes on the World Cup (U23) circuit this season, and decided to 'ride up' a category, in hopes of gaining valuable UCI ranking points with a top-5 result.
Disera attacked on the opening climb, with only Bouchard able to initially match him. Gagne bridged across on the second lap, and the two dropped Bouchard late in the fourth lap. From that point on, Disera and Gagne rode together, neither able to open a gap on the other. It looked like it was going to come down to a sprint finish, until Gagne made a mistake on one of the final descents, going down hard and leaving the door open for Disera to cruise in to the national title.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://ift.tt/2uQzMqN
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