Graves caps perfect season with world championship win

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Australia's Jared Graves capped his perfect season by winning the men's four cross title at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships on Friday evening in Canberra, Australia.

Graves was the clear favourite going into the men's event, having already won the World Cup title with one race remaining, and qualifying first at these Worlds. He did not disappoint the fans, with a very fast start in every heat and he was often able to coast across the line, multiple bike lengths ahead of the competition.

Romain Saladini (France), Jakub Riha (Czech Republic) and defending champion Rafael Alvarez de Lara Lucas (Spain) joined Graves for the final. While Graves shot out of the gate and was never challenged on his way to victory, Saladini and Riha fought for second until the second half of the course, when Saladini finally opened a gap to take the silver medal. Alvarez de Lara Lucas finished fourth after crashing out of contention on the first straight.

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"I felt a bit calmer today than I normally would at a World Cup," said Graves "I was saying to people earlier in the week that I have lost this race enough now, even as favourite, to know that life goes on if you don't win it. So I was trying to remember that."

"Obviously, I wanted to win it. It has been the biggest goal I have had in mountain biking, to pull it off after the bad run of luck I have had for three years in a row. I had a really good last practice session, so I knew if I kept it upright and just did my thing all night that I was going to get it. I did that, so I can't explain how I feel. It is just unbelievable."

"I was trying to not pay any attention to the other races tonight. I had people out on the course to tell me if there was anything going on that I should be aware of. But no one said anything, so I just kept to my strategy. It was a huge help this week practicing with Sam Willoughby. It was unreal having him here to practice with. We just did multiple lines and went over every line conceivable option for passing, and I feel it just paid off tonight."

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