July 11, 2010 (Edmonton, AB) – It’s a beautiful sunny day in Edmonton for round #4 of the Canada MTB Cup series with temperatures in the low 20s. The course is somewhat tacky following yesterday’s rain with some muddy sections but overall it’s expected to be a fast day for the racers. The Junior Expert women will complete 4 laps, the Junior Expert men 5 laps, the Elite women will do 5 laps and the Elite men will complete 6 laps of the 7.2km course.

Lap 1
Derek Zanstra (3 Rox Racing) leads the Elite men’s pack as they’re off first on lap one of six. The course takes riders up a short steep climb right away and a bottle neck forced the last riders to have to wait.

Emily Batty (Trek World Racing) takes the holeshot as the Elite women are also underway – the women’s field is smaller so they were all able to hit the climb and keep moving.

Quebec’s Leandre Bouchard and Jeremy Martin jumped to the front in Junior Expert Men’s race as they’re also on their way to complete 5 laps.

The Junior Expert women are off and the pack is together…

Lap 2
It’s Marty Lazarski (Rocky Mountain) leading the men followed by Zanstra in second with Kris Sneddon (Kona) in third as the Elite Men begin their second lap… with a 5s gap over the chasers.

Batty comes thru with Amanda Sin (3 Rocks Racing) in second with Catherine Vipond (Norco) in third. Following in 4th on her own is Mikaela Kofman 20s back with the pack strung out behind her.

Mitch Bailey (Team Ontario) is leading with Martin, Evan McNeely (Team ON/EMD Serono/Specialized) and Preston Wagler (3 Rox Racing) as the foursome have a 30s lead on the group behind.

Kristina Laforge (Equipe du Quebec/Cyclone Alma) is leading with team mate Valerie Meunier in second…

Lap 3
The men are staring their 3rd lap with a group of 5 out front including Sneddon, Zanstra, Manuel Fehlmann (Pedalhead), Eric Batty (Trek) and Matt Hadley (Xprezo-Borsao) with a 15s gap over the chasers including Andrew Watson (Norco), Adam Morka (Trek), Cameron Jette (La Bicicletta) and Stefan Widmer (Rocky Mountain Factory Team).

Batty and Sin are on their own and have dropped Vipond who is chasing in 3rd at 1-min with Kofman further back on her own with the field strung out behind.

Bailey, Martin and Wagler continue to lead as McNeely dropped back with a chain problem…

Laforge is leading the Junior Expert women…

Lap 4
It’s Zanstra, Sneddon and Lazarski out front beginning their 4th lap with about a 30s lead over Hadley, Widmer, Jette, Morka and Raphael Gagne (Rock Mountain)… Watson is trailing them.

Batty has attacked and is on her own out front with 30s on Sin followed by Vipond in 3rd another min or so behind and then it’s Kofman in 4th further back.

The Junior expert men are their 4th lap with Bailey, Martin and Wagler still together as McNeely is trying to get back on.

Laforge comes thru on her own to begin her final lap in the Junior Expert women’s race…

Lap 5
Zanstra has attacked and is on his own out front with a 40s lead on a group of 3 chasers including Sneddon, Lazarski and Gagne… they’re being followed by Batty, Watson and Hadley…

Sin has regrouped and has caught Batty and is now leading by 15s as they begin their last lap.

Bailey, Martin, with Bouchard and Antoine Caron (Equipe du Quebec) – both were missed earlier as there was a problem with rider numbers – have come thru to start their last lap in the Junior men’s race.

Lap 6 Final
It’s Zanstra on his own starting his last lap with a minute on Watson, Sneddon and Lazarski fighting for the next two spots on the podium…the next group of chasers is 15s back.

Unofficial

Junior Expert Women
1. Kristina Laforge (Equipe du Quebec/Cyclone Alma)
2. Cayley Brooks (Team Ontario)
3. Laura Bietola (Team Ontario)

Junior Expert Men
1. Mitch Bailey (Team Ontario)
2. Antoine Caron (Equipe du Quebec)
3. Jeremy Martin (Rocky Mountain Factory Team)
4. Leandre Bouchard(Cyclone d’Alma)

Elite Women
1. Amanda Sin (3 Rox Racing)
2. Emily Batty (Trek World Racing)
3. Catharine Vipond (Norco)

Elite Men
1. Derek Zanstra (3 Rox Racing)
2. Andrew Watson (Norco)
3. Kris Sneddon (Kona)
4. Marty Lazarski (Rocky Mountain Factory Team)
5. Eric Batty (Trek)