Irish Riders at Czech & Italy XC World Cups
Mel Spath and Cait Elliott recently competed in the final 2 rounds of the World Cup series. First up was Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic, set in a forested area of pretty rolling hills, the race was based around a biathlon stadium which created a great arena and starting area. The course was very similar to racing in Ireland, lots of natural forest singletrack with plenty of roots, twisty corners, kickers and a couple of rocky technical features to keep the cameras happy. However warm weather and lots of steep climbs on rooty trails made for tough racing. A new addition to the World Cup series, the event was extremely well run with an incredible atmosphere and over 20,000 spectators on race day. Mel battled hard to finish 54th but Cait was unlucky to puncture leaving her unable to finish.
Mel: “The Czech World Cup was amazing! Probably the best ever spectator supported world cup – the cheering was deafening. The course was conditionally and technically very challenging, with lots of steep climbs and rooty descents. It was good fun to ride, but I didn’t have good legs on race day and suffered from the start. The laps were very short and I was pulled, but I can’t say I was too unhappy about that on the day.”
Cait: “I had a good start and was in the top 50s when I slashed my tyre on a rock miles from the tech area. It was my first ever dnf and not something I ever want to happen again. The course and atmosphere were amazing making it even more frustrating so I’ll be on a mission to do it justice next year!”
Next up was Val di Sole in Italy where it was even hotter and the climbs even steeper with a mixture of fireroad, grassy meadows and greasy, rocky singletrack totalling 230m vertical metres over a 4.2km lap! Luckily the climbs were interspersed with flowing alpine singltrack, fast rocky trails and rooty switchback descents so there was still a lot of fun to be had but temperatures of over 35 degrees on race day made things hard work. Mel rode well to finish 54th again with Cait in 63rd.
Mel: “After the Czech World Cup we went straight to Val di Sole in Italy for the last world cup round. I absolutely loved the course – a lot of the descents were very “Irish”. It was also a very hard course – probably the most steep and climby world cup of them all and it was very hot (35 degrees). I had a much better race here, really enjoying the course and the racing, and was gutted that I missed the 80% cut-off with only one lap to go. I learned a lot in both world cups, which will really help for getting the preparation right for next year.”
Cait: “I was a bit disappointed to get pulled, I had a good position early on but was really suffering in the heat and began to drop back. The course was a lot of fun and it was a good learning experience, I’ll know what to expect next year
