Round seven of the men’s 4-Cross series of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano at Bromont, Quebec in Canada could charitably be called a ‘crashfest’. Crashes and upsets featured in every heat, and the World Cup leader went out in the first round.
“There were so many corners, and whoever was first into the first corner had a problem,” explained Wichman. “The best line was always the inside one, but that gave you problems in the next corner, so it was very difficult to ride it cleanly.
“In the final I heard the crash behind me, but I didn’t look back,” he added. “I just kept going because I wasn’t sure who was chasing me. I think this puts me in a pretty good position for second overall.”
For the men the top-seeded riders began to fall out of contention in the first round. World Cup leader Graves went out in the first round after crashing in the second corner. Number one qualifier Romain Saladini (Team Sunn) crashed out in the second round, as did Roger Rinderknecht (GT Bicycles), who was second in the World Cup rankings and world champion Rafael Alvarez de Lara Lucas (Specialized Factory Team). In the semi-finals it was the Czech rider Tomas Slavik who went down.
This left Wichman, Dan Atherton (Animal-Commencal), Czech rider Michal Prokop and a newcomer to 4-Cross, American Junior rider Mitch Ropelato, for the final. Wichman managed to get away early and miss the horrific crash that took down the other three riders, to coast in for the win. Ropelato was up first and took silver, while Atherton limped in for third ahead of Prokop. Both Atherton and Prokop were clearly injured, with the Atherton favouring his shoulder on the podium.
Graves has already mathematically won the World Cup title, and Wichman now holds a 115 point lead over Rinderknecht going into the final round in Schladming, Austria after the world championships.
| 1 | Joost Wichman (Ned) |
| 2 | Mitch Ropelato (USA) |
| 3 | Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal |
| 4 | Michal Prokop (Cze) |
| 5 | Quentin Derbier (Fra) |
| 6 | Tomas Slavik (Cze) |
| 7 | Michael Robert Haderer (USA) |
| 8 | Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain UK |
| 9 | Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lucas (Spa) Specialized Factory Racing |
| 10 | Guido Tschugg (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team |
| 11 | John Swanguen (USA) |
| 12 | Fabien Cousinie (Fra) Kenda Morewood |
| 13 | Romain Saladini (Fra) Team Sunn |
| 14 | Roger Rinderknecht (Swi) GT Bicycles |
| 15 | Blake Carney (USA) |
| 16 | Johannes Fischbach (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team |
| 17 | Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team |
| 18 | Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing |
| 19 | Thomas Tokarczyk (USA) |
| 20 | Matt Zdriluk (Can) |
| 21 | Arthur Daley (USA) |
| 22 | Bernard Kerr (GBr) |
| 23 | Martin Frei (Swi) |
| 24 | Markus Sedlak (Aut) |
| 25 | Florian Gottschlich (Ger) |
| 26 | Erik Nelson (USA) |
| 27 | James Schwanke (USA) |
| 28 | Nicolas Gspan (Swi) |
| 29 | Sascha Meyenborg (Ger) |
| 30 | Hans Lambert (Can) |
| 31 | Luke Madill (Aus) GT Bicycles |
| 32 | Randal Huntington (Aus) |
-
Snow and ice sports organisers say adding cyclocross to Olympic Winter Games would 'dilute brand, heritage and identity'
'If they were super popular sports they would already be in the Summer Games, and they're not' says International Biathlon Union's Secretary General -
From 'homecoming' happiness to 'shoe kick in the kidneys', riders react to Life Time Grand Prix selections for 2026 off-road series
First-time invitee Morgan Aguirre finds opportunity to return home to the US -
'Paradoxically, the teams didn't accept it' – Teams budget caps not coming to cycling in near future, reveals UCI President
David Lappartient talks cycling's financial state in extensive interview with Ouest-France, also explaining difficulty of future ticketed entry at races -
'We would like the last World Championships to have a legacy' – Rwanda aiming for a spot on the WorldTour calendar in 2027
Rwandan federation working with UCI to establish a new top-level race in the country
