Before the opening ceremony of the UCI Cross Country World Cup, professional riders competed Friday evening in the Pro Sprint Eliminator in front of thousands of spectators through the streets of Pickering.
The Pro Eliminator saw the top 16 women and top 32 men from a time trial run of the sub-two minute circuit go into 4-Cross style four rider heats to compete for a top prize of 1000 Euros ($1500). The circuit took riders around narrow streets, through a single person wide path between houses, into a church cemetery (!) and through someone's backyard before a final lung-busting uphill sprint to the finish.
Thomas Litscher (MIG Bike Team) took the men's title ahead of Manuel Fumic (Cannondale) and Ralph Näf (Multivan-Merida), with Eva Lechner (Colnago Arrehini Sudtirol) easily winning the women's final over teammate Nathalie Schneitter and Katerina Nash (Luna).
Article continues below| 1 | Thomas Litscher (Sui) MIG Team |
| 2 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale |
| 3 | Ralph Naef (Sui) Multivan Merida |
| 4 | Jose Hermida (Esp) Multivan Merida |
| 1 | Eva Lechner (Ita) Colnago Arreghini Suditrol |
| 2 | Nathalie Schneitter (Sui) Colnago Arreghini Suditrol |
| 3 | Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna |
-
'No reason to panic' – Remco Evenepoel drops down Volta a Catalunya standings as Florian Lipowitz closes in on podium
Belgian says 'I've felt worse two days after a fall' as tactics favour his German teammate -
'Today I lost a life for sure' - Tom Pidcock 'OK' after crashing into a ravine in the Volta a Catalunya out of sight of race
'I was far from the road and nobody knew I was there,' says Briton, bolstering UCI case for GPS tracking -
'I gave up, actually, because they were so close' – Mathieu van der Poel made to look human despite completing E3 Saxo Classic hat-trick with 'one of my best efforts'
Dutchman talks through 63km solo win after chasing quartet fumbled the catch in the final kilometres of a dramatic edition -
'It's not up to us' or 'there is no more time to gamble'? How big teams in the peloton failed to chase down Mathieu van der Poel in E3 Saxo Classic
The peloton was at one point only 30 seconds behind solo Dutchman, with numbers for many teams, but directors from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek disagree on where chasing responsibility lies
