When it came to the moment of truth, Neff showed why she has dominated the women’s field this year taking her fiercest rival, Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) to task, as she added another top honor to her mounting victories. The women’s race was expected to be a battle between Neff and Prevot as the two riders have dominated the Elite World Cup, earning five wins out of seven races. However, Neff soon showed that she was in top form for the day, attacking on the first climb of the 5-lap race.
Ferrand Prevot bridged up on the climb in the first lap, and then both riders crashed on the descent, with Neff the first to get going and open a gap on her rival. The gap grew slowly over the next few laps until lap four, when Ferrand Prevot had to stop in the pits to get a twisted chain replaced, which promptly broke, forcing her to run to the next pit. This mishap dropped her to ninth, and out of medal contention.
Canada’s Rochette was alone in 16th followed by Catherine Fleury in 20th and Rachel Pageau in 30th as Smith got caught behind some traffic. But as Smith slowly moved up Rochette began to fade and soon the two were riding together in the low 20s.
While Neff was cruising to a decisive win, Margot Moschetti (France) was steadily moving up, and was into second place by lap four, with Linda Indergand (Switzerland) joining her during the same lap. Moschetti was able to open a enough of a gap on the final lap climbs to assure herself of second place, with Indergand coming in just behind for bronze.
“I felt really good today, and it was great that everything worked out,” said Neff. “I knew that I had the shape, so I was happy that I could put everything together today, race my race and take the win. When we did the Team Relay, Pauline and I had nearly the same time, so I knew it would be a tight battle today. So I just tried to do my race like I do when I win, and go out fast and ride my own pace.”
Smith held her own to finish 23rd at 10:42 with Rochette coming in 9s later in 24th. “It was very good experience for me, I wanted to finish my year with more consistency and overall I did,” Smith told Pedal post race.
Fleury ended up 28th at 12:45 and continues to impress. Despite some post-race coughing she said she felt very good. “This was definitely a good course for me, it had everything a tough Canadian course would have – I’m happy with my race today,” added Fleury.
Pageau in 30th at 13:34 crashed before the last lap but decided to tough it out and continue, although she admitted to slowing down a bit. “Sometimes you just have to go for it even when it doesn’t work out. I guess I could have gone faster but I was in some pain near the end… at least I finished.”
Men’s Race
The men’s race began with a strong attack from Samuel Gaze (New Zealand), who led for the first two laps with Jordan Sarrou (France). But nothing is a sure bet in cycling – especially when it comes to the day where all riders bring their A game.
Gaze crashed hard on the third lap and was forced to abandon, while van der Heijden bridged up to the leaders in the same lap. Misfortune hit Sarrou when he flatted on the following lap, leaving van der Heijden alone in the lead, which he held to the finish.
Jan Vastl (Czech Republic) made bid for the podium as well but none could match American Howard Grotts, who had an impressive ride through the field from 33rd at the end of lap one, to take the bronze at the finish.
“Whenever you can win the rainbow jersey it is a great day,” said van der Heijden. “The start was good, and it was my goal to be up near the front at the beginning. I was starting to feel better and better through the race, but still suffering because it was so hard and you have to stay focussed all the time. I had no time to enjoy my last lap because [Sarrou] was close, but now I can start to enjoy it.”
Canada’s Bouchard was 9th following the start and moved up to 7th at one point but settled for 8th in the end for a big improvement over his 24th place last year. “I felt really good coming into this race and just hoped I wouldn’t have any mechanicals—the jumps were fun and I was hoping for a top ten today,” Bouchard told Pedal.
Former U23 national champ, Mitchell Bailey started in 55th but picked his way though the field to an impressive 17th. Unfortunately a crash and a minor mechanical saw him finish 31st.
Peter Disera, who began the day in 90th fought his was up to 38th. “I’m pretty happy about my ride today, it’s been one of those years where you never know – I had a lot of ups and downs, so this ride put me into a good mood.”
Results here.