Plaxton wins Canadian cross country national title

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In the Canadian Cross Country National  Championships, Max Plaxton (Specialized) retained his title on Saturday in scorching heat that caused many competitors to drop out.

The men's race was a battle between seven-time champion Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox) and Plaxton, the rider who broke his consecutive win streak last year. Raphael Gagne (Rocky Mountain) opened the action on the first lap, but the other two dropped him on the second lap. Gagne held the bronze medal position until the last lap, when the heat and pace cracked him, allowing Derek Zandstra (Scott-3Rox) to slip by for the final medal.

The front duo rode together for the first four laps of the six lap race before Kabush launched an attack, gaining 10 seconds on Plaxton. The defending champion clawed his way back and launched his own attack with a lap and a half to go, and Kabush had no response. Plaxton powered away impressively to win his second title, with Kabush coming in for silver, 42 seconds down.

"Last year was special, winning my first elite title," said Plaxton, "but this one shows that I'm really the top rider in Canada now, possibly in North America. It was a tough race, with the two of us watching each other, and then Geoff attacking. But I was able to get back to him, and then just opened a gap through some of the technical sections and built from there. This gives me a lot of confidence going into the next couple of World Cups, and I think a podium is possible."

"I was hoping to get that eighth title this year," said Kabush. "Now I'll have to wait another year, I guess. It was a tactical race; we were both trying to get the other guy to go to the front. I got a bit of a gap on one of the climbs, but Max was able to come back up to me, then he got away from me in technical section and I couldn't respond."

Leandre Bouchard (Cyclone dAlma/Devinci) took a highly popular local win for the under 23 men's title.

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