Evie Richard's nabs a second place in the U-23
Challenging conditions met the Trek Factory Racing cross country team this weekend, with wet and muddy trails defining the weekend. Highlighting the performance of the weekend was Evie Richards, who scored a second place finish in the U-23 race.
Evie came into the race with high expectations, and was looking to make an impression. After her win at the 2017 edition, it was all business for the on-form Brit. Even with the tough conditions, she was able to secure a second place finish and come through the rough course unscathed.
"From last years amazing sunshine I wasn’t expecting such a wild weekend," said Evie. "I was shocked with how well my start was and from there I just had one of those races where I was just super pleased with how everything went. Technical features have never been a strength in the previous seasons, so to ride all the descents really competitively with Sina felt so good, and felt like the tough conditions really favored me. The slippy ground made it an exciting race with the descents being quite the spectacular for the spectators but slightly more challenging for us riders! I enjoyed the whole event, and it’s crazy how much work went on behind the scenes by the team to come away with 2nd place."
For the rest of the team, Friday saw the introduction of the short track event. The race, know as ‘XCC’, would determine the front two rows of Sunday’s XCO (full distance XC race).
The short track ended with Emily Batty in 12th, securing a start position in the first two rows. Both Anton Cooper and Sergio Mantecon finished outside the top two rows, meaning a third and fifth row start position respectively.
With Sunday came the full distance XCO race.
Emily is finding the form, and finished a solid 13th place.
Anton Cooper had a tough battle, finding himself unable to match the pace in the second half of the race, finishing in 18th.
"The end result today in Albstadt wasn't the position that the first half of the race promised," said Anton. "I was conscious to ride within my limits early on and felt I did a good job of that. However when push came to shove in the second half of the race I wasn't able to kick it up a gear like I normally can and I faded from around 10th to 18th over the final 3 laps. An unavoidable crash on the last lap into another rider sprawled out at the bottom of a drop lost me a few more spots but I think by that stage I was just too smashed to feel mad!"
Sergio Mantecon had a tough race, having to settle for 54th. Not the result he was working for, but Sergio will now look towards the coming weekend for redemption.
