Cycling Canada  – OTTAWA, May 1, 2017 – Canada had strong results at the opening round of the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup on Sunday, in Lourdes, France.  World champion Finnley Iles (Specialized Gravity) won the Junior men’s race, Mark Wallace (Canyon Factory) was second in Elite men, and Canadian champion Miranda Miller (Specialized Gravity) was sixth in Elite women.

Iles, who is the 2016 World Cup overall champion and the defending champion at Lourdes, won by over three and a half seconds to take the lead in the Junior men’s World Cup competition.

Photo Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist (All Rights Reserved)
Media: Please contact Karine Bedard for image use.

In the Elite women’s category, world champion and 2016 overall World Cup champion Rachel Atherton of Great Britain took a convincing win.  Atherton now has an incredible 14 straight World Cup victories, plus two world titles, since 2015.  Miller finished 10.764 seconds behind Atherton, but less than 2.2 seconds off the podium.

Miller, who is racing for her first pro team, commented: “My race run was a big improvement from qualifying and definitely a step in the right direction. I made a couple mistakes that I definitely regret, but even so I’m really happy with how the weekend went with the new team and crew.  [I’m] fired up for the next rounds!”

The Elite men race saw a storm blow in at the top of the course for the final ten riders – the top qualifiers – bringing blinding fog, heavy winds and rain, and making the course slippery and treacherous.  French rider Alexandre Fayolle, the 28th rider to start was in the Hot Seat at that point, followed by Mark Wallace and Marcel Gutierrez of Colombia.  None of the top contenders could beat the conditions, with most finishing in the 60s and 70s, leaving Fayolle to claim the title followed by Wallace and Gutierrez.

Photo Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist (All Rights Reserved)

Wallace recognized that conditions were a factor in his best-ever World Cup result, “Even though it was my best finish and first podium it doesn’t feel like I completely earned it due to the weather. It’s unfortunate that something uncontrollable like the weather has such a big effect on results, but I guess that’s just part of competing in an outdoor sport, especially one in the mountains. That being said, I felt like I rode better today than I have in a while and was happy with my run so it was a good weekend!”

Wallace’s second at Lourdes is the same result his team mate, the late Steve Smith, achieved at this race last year.

About Cycling Canada
Cycling Canada is the governing body for competitive cycling in Canada. Founded in 1882, Cycling Canada aims to create and sustain an effective system that develops talented Canadian cyclists to achieve Olympic, Paralympic, and World Championship medal performances. With the vision of being a leading competitive cycling nation by 2020 celebrating enhanced international success, increased national participation and world class event hosting, Cycling Canada manages the High Performance team, hosts national and international events and administers programs to promote and grow cycling across the country. Cycling Canada programs are made possible through the support of its valued corporate partners – Global Relay, Lexus Canada, Mattamy Homes, Louis Garneau and Bear Mountain Resort – along with the Government of Canada, Own The Podium, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

 

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Source: Cycling Canada 
Information:
Karine Bedard l Cycling Canada l 613-248-1353 x 2617 l karine.bedard@cyclingcanada.ca