September 03, 2014 (Hafjell, Norway) – On the final lap Team France put the hammer down to claim the gold and the rainbow jerseys in the 4-lap 16.8km Team Relay as Switzerland battled back to take second with the Czech Republic grabbing the 3rd.

Canada’s squad consisting of Leandre Bouchard, Geoff Kabush, Marc-Andre Fortier and Catharine Pendrel put in a valiant effort, and were in contention coming into the final lap despite an exchange miscue early on, but anchor Pendrel was racing amidst a sea of top men and the team ended up a lacklustre 7th.

The Team Relay, a crowd favourite, has been contested since 2006, offers plenty of action and opportunities to gain or lose ground. Held once a year, each country enters one rider from four categories – Elite Men, Elite Women, Under-23 Men and Junior Men.

Each rider completes one lap of the cross-country course and then hands off to the next rider. Teams can send riders off in any order they wish, so the team leading early in the race with their strongest riders has no guarantee of being able to hold onto the lead later in the race. It’s a unique event with men and women, Elites and U23s and the field is full of national and world champions from all categories.

In Norway each lap took between 12-13.5 minutes up forested hills, 500-year old wooden bridges, technical tight loops with boulders and crags sticking out menacingly, and tree roots doing their best to be inconspicuous until it’s too late.  With mud and steep descents quickly following to keep everyone alert and honest, some even chose to hop off their bikes – but not the Canadians.

The see-saw battle saw defending champions Italy have a strong start with Luca Braidot, until he flatted, putting that team out of contention. Then Sweden put everyone on the alert charging ahead but Canada’s Bouchard raced well at just a few seconds behind yet missed tagging off to Kabush and had to circle back putting Canada on its heels.

“I missed connecting with my teammate Geoff Kabush because when I left, the relay exchange zone was not yet in place so I did not get a chance to see where Canada was located,” explained Bouchard to Sportcom. “The lap ended with a fast descent into the transition zone and at that speed, it was very difficult to see my teammate in the heat of the action. ”

Lap 2 proved to be tougher as Australia showed its force taking over the lead from the Swedes as Spain moved into second place with France behind in Sweden in fourth as with Canadian 8x national XC champion Kabush fought back to 5th spot.

“We all road well today but a little bad luck at the start made it hard to come back and give Catharine a good buffer at the end. It’s a tough course but I think we showed we’re ready to race,” said Kabush. “This could have turned out very differently, but it’s fine, we should be proud of  our race.”

Things got interesting again for Canada as Fortier went to work and suddenly the Canucks were back in contention now in second behind Spain. France remained strong in 3rd with Australia 4th and Austria in 5th.

But Pendrel did not have enough of a buffer to fend off some of the top riders on the World Cup including Maxime Marotte from France and reigning World Champion Nino Schurter from Switzerland as many teams saved the best for last.

Pendrel was happy with her race in the end but noted that she struggled on the climbs explaining, “There are various parts that cause this course to be challenging, the climbs especially, and adding the technical aspects it’s a good course overall but a hard one – but I like it that way.”

Marotte took off and had too much of a lead on Schurter who battled back from 6th into second while Jaroslav Kulhavy delivered the bronze for the Czech Republic driving ahead from 7th place.

We caught up with Team Canada MTB’s Head Coach, Dan Proulx, for his assessment on the day. “The entire team had really strong rides that gave them confidence for the cross country. Leandre Bouchard and Marc-Andre Fortier had exceptional rides today. Catharine Pendrel and Geoff Kabush were also very strong and gained valuable intel about the course that will help them perform better in their individual events.

“A mistake happened in the first exchange between Bouchard and Kabush. As you know, they don’t set up the exchange area until after the first rider has started, so Leandre was finishing the lap and seeing a completely new set-up for the first time. He slowed and looked for Geoff, but simply missed him amongst the other 24 riders in the line-up. At that point, all of the riders from each country are still on the rail. It was an honest mistake that was easy to make given the set-up. Leandre remained calm and circled back to make the exchange. He was really composed given the situation.

“The relay, at the end of the day, is simply part of our preparation process for cross-country. The athletes get a chance to see how the course feels at race speed. On this course that’s a tremendous advantage. Even the riders who didn’t compete on the relay were out on course studying the best lines used in the race. It’s really our first chance to understand how the cross country race will unfold in the opening laps…how the course feels at speed. We feel positive and very optimistic about the week ahead,” he concluded.

Results

1. France 52:02
Jordan Sarrou (MU)
Hugo Pigeon (MJ)
Pauline Ferrand Prevot (WU)
Maxime Marotte (ME)

2. Switzerland 0:45
Andri Frischknecht (MU)
Filippo Colombo (MJ)
Jolanda Neff (WU)
Nino Schurter (ME)

3. Czech Republic 0:55
Krystof Bogar (MU)
Jan Rajchart (MJ)
Katerina Nash (WE)
Jaroslav Kulhavy (ME)

4. United States of America 1:25
Todd Wells (ME)
Neilson Powless (MJ)
Lea Davison (WE)
Keegan Swenson (MU)

5. Germany 1:31
Julian Schelb (MU)
Luca Schwarzbauer (MJ)
Sabine Spitz (WE)
Manuel Fumic (ME)

6. Australia 1:36
Daniel McConnell (ME)
Cameron Ivory (MU)
Rebecca Henderson (WE)
Reece Tucknott (MJ)

7. Canada 1:53
Leandre Bouchard (MU)
Geoff Kabush (ME)
Marc-Andre Fortier (MJ)
Catharine Pendrel (WE)

8. Netherlands 2:13
Rudi Van Houts (ME)
Joris Nieuwenhuis (MJ)
Anne Terpstra (WE)
Michiel Van Der Heijden (MU)

9. Denmark 2:16
Sebastian Carstensen Fini (MU)
Niels Rasmussen (MU)
Annika Langvad (WE)
Simon Andreassen (MJ)

10. Spain 2:49
José Antonio Hermida Ramos (ME)
Pablo Rodriguez Guede (MU)
Javier Jimenez Pascual (MJ)
Rocio Martin Rodriguez (WE)

11. Sweden 3:01
Emil Lindgren (ME)
Axel Lindh (MU)
Kajsa Snihs (WE)
Max Wiklund-Hellstadius (MJ)

12. Norway 3:04
Sondre Kristiansen (MU)
Erik Nordsaeter Resell (MJ)
Ingrid Boe Jacobsen (WU)
Ola Kjören (ME)

13. Ukraine 3:37
Sergji Rysenko (ME)
Oleksiy Zavolokin (MU)
Yana Belomoina (WU)
Kostiantyn Prykhodko (MJ)

14. Austria 3:44
Alexander Gehbauer (ME)
Max Foidl (MU)
Felix Ritzinger (MJ)
Elisabeth Osl (WE)

15. Belgium 3:58
Bart de Vocht (MU)
Niels Derveaux (MJ)
Githa Michiels (WE)
Ruben Scheire (ME)

16. Russian Federation 4:27
Timofei Ivanov (ME)
Anton Stepanov (MU)
Anna Konovalova (WU)
Arsenty Vavilov (MJ)

17. Italy 4:30
Luca Braidot (ME)
Moreno Pellizzon (MJ)
Eva Lechner (WE)
Andrea Righettini (MU)

18. Slovakia 5:08
Frantisek Lami (MU)
Filip Sklenarik (MJ)
Janka Keseg Stevkova (WE)
Michal Lami (ME)

19. South Africa 5:53
Gert Heyns (MU)
Candice Neethling (WU)
Alan Hatherly (MJ)
Philip Buys (ME)

20. Mexico 5:56
Ignacio Torres (ME)
José Aurelio Hernandez (MU)
Daniela Campuzano (WE)
Jose Gerardo Ulloa (MJ)

21. Argentina 7:06
Luis Rojas (MU)
Agustina Maria Apaza (WE)
Gonzalo Artal Lokman (MJ)
Dario Alejandro Gasco (ME)

22. Great Britain 8:07
Iain Paton (MU)
Dylan Kerfoot-Robson (MJ)
Alice Barnes (WU)
Grant Ferguson (MU)

23. Portugal 8:26
Mario Luis Miranda Costa (ME)
Rodrigo Serafin (MJ)
Joana Filipa Oliveira Monteiro (WU)
Goncalo Duarte Amado (MU)

24. Japan 8:32
Kohei Yamamoto (ME)
Toki Sawada (MU)
Mio Suemasa (WE)
Ari Hirabayashi (MJ)

25. Isreal 8:43
Shlomi Haimy (ME)
Guy Niv (MU)
Guy Leshem (MJ)
Meghan Beltzer (WU)

26. Finland 11:53
Toni Tähti (MU)
Sasu Halme (MJ)
Sonja Kallio (WE)
Jukka Vastaranta (ME)

27. Turkey 13:45
Isak Unal (MU)
Esra Kurkcu (WE)
Yunus Emre Yilmaz (MJ)
Abdulkadir Kelleci (ME)

Full results w/splits here.