October 05, 2018 (Israel) – Canada’s Raphael Gagne and Andrew L’Esperance have teamed up to take on Ford Epic Israel, a 3-day MTB stage race, S1 UCI off-road stage race, from Oct. 4-6 and finished 7th on Stage 2 which started with a 4-km neutral start on roads and featured 97 km and 2,350 m of elevation gain.

That was a sketchy experience and we were happy when the group of 280 riders headed up a steep climb and we could start racing. Raph and I quickly made our way to the front to get a good position.

After a few climbs and a few descents, we were coming up on the first main descent of the day. Raph suggested we lead the descent and this ended up being a key decision for the day. Shortly after the descent was a long single-track section that really stretched out the group. After that section we were a smaller group and Raph and I stayed on the front and on the gas. A small gap opened due to some indecision in the group and we rolled with it.

We rode smooth and strong and the chasers were soon out of sight. The next key decision of the day happened when 6 chasing riders caught us about 1 hour into the race. Among them was Jaroslav and his teammate and they quickly attacked once they caught us. We hesitated slightly but finally made it on their wheel after Raph gave me a quick push to close the small gap. Then we were set in the front group for most of the race.

“I am really happy with how we raced today! We stayed positive with the bad luck from stage 1 and went in knowing we could have a good day today. Being in the lead from early on until about 10 km to go was a really cool experience. We got to ride with Kulhavy and his teammate Matous for most of the race,” said L’Esperance.

We rode well in this group conserving energy, taking care of our equipment, fueling well and riding smooth. Coming up towards the end of the stage, with about 15 km to go Jaroslav put in a big attack on a pavement climb and we quickly covered it and neutralized it. With about 10 km to go the Czech team put their move in and we couldn’t hold the pace.

“We started the day confident in our capabilities to do well after a hard day 1, and we quickly put that confidence to execution launching an early move after a long singletrack descent that we had led. We were alone in the front for about 40 minutes until Kulhavy and his teammate caught us. We were strong enough to follow them when they attacked past us and then we were with them for most of the race until 10km to the finish,” commented Gagne.

We kept riding well together and made it to the finish with suffering and teamwork. We finished 7th at the line after loosing places on the last climb and moved up into the top 10 in the overall. This stage took us through beautiful terrain with nice views of the Jerusalem Mountains and we even had a few moments throughout the day to look up and enjoy the views. There was a helicopter for the live coverage.

“It’s pretty cool racing with a heli overhead,” added L’Esperance. “Towards the end of the race I was suffering from the effort and couldn’t follow the Czech teams attack and we did our best with damage control up the last climb to finish 7th on the day. Overall I am really happy with the day and excited to see what we can do with a shorter stage tomorrow.”

Gagne was happy as well, “I am really happy of how we rode. I feel like we made a lot of good decisions today, riding our own pace leading and then steady pace in a group trying to somewhat save energy, safe bike handling to stay upright and mechanical free. The last long climb to the finish is where we lost time but we are excited to give it everything we have tomorrow. Overall, an amazing day on the bike with a strong 7th place finish.”

Results (brief)

Men
1. Specialized (Ulman/Kulhavy) 3:51:57
2. Hungarian National Team (Morton/Valter) 3:53:43
3. Lexware Mountainbike Team (Branbl/Eger) 3:32:21

7. Canadian National Team (Gagne/L’Esperance) 3:57:04

Women
1. Hungarian Nation Team-Ghost (Terpstra/Benko) 4:40:51
2. BWR Team (Michiels/Crnogorac) 4:48:36
3. Joe’s No Flats (Daubermann/Noyman) 4:58:14
4. Scott Bresil/Trek GPL (Mourao/Montambault) 5:01:38