Pendrel repeats victory in Mont-Sainte-Anne

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Catharine Pendrel (Luna) won her second consecutive Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup on Saturday. She finished ahead of teammate Georgia Gould and local crowd favorite Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain).

Gould led for most of the race, but on the fourth of five laps, she started to cramp. Behind her, Pendrel steadily moved up throughout the race and overtook Gould on the final lap.

"I didn't have the pace early on, and I thought that lost me the race," said Pendrel. "But luckily for me, the pace made Georgia suffer, too, and I was able to reel her back in."

From the gun, Gould set a blistering pace. It had started raining due to a passing shower just prior to the women's start, and the course was freshly wetted and slick. Her early move wasn't so much deliberate as a strategic effort to stay out of trouble at the front.

"I didn't know what was going on behind me. I just tried to focus on riding smoothly and riding my own race," said Gould. "I went to the front - in that stuff, it's better to pick your own line than watch what somebody else is doing. Marie-Helen was with me for a little bit and then I got a gap, so I was surprised and I decided to go with it."

Gould has led other World Cups though never for as long a period of time or with as much of a gap as today. At one point she had 53 seconds on her nearest chaser.

It seemed like Gould had a real shot at winning her first World Cup, but that's not how it worked out.

"I was feeling good until the fourth lap. I was cramping. I was like 'uh oh', that's not good.' There are some many of the short punchy efforts with those bridges," said Gould. "There were places where it was faster for me to get off and run, but when I would do that, my legs were twinging up."

"I tried to ride my own race and focus on being as smooth as I could through the technical sections," said Gould. "I saved as much as I could for those bridges - I didn't want to have to get off and walk. Catharine was just stronger on the last few laps. It was disappointing to lead for so long and lose it in the last lap. But I'm happy my form was good. I didn't make any mistakes, I just wasn't fast enough."

Fueled by the raucous cheers of a local crowd, Premont initially led the charge behind Gould. On the third lap, Pendrel passed her and the world champion was appearing stronger lap by lap.

"I didn't have the pace early on and I thought that lost me the race," said Pendrel. "But luckily for me, the pace made Georgia suffer too and I was able to reel her back in."

"I realized I wasn't riding the course as well as I could early on. I was attacking the obvious sections, but not the unobvious sections. I knew that I had to find seconds where I could and that became my focus."

Nash looked fairly comfortable in fourth until the fourth lap when she suddenly lost about a minute and a half.

One of her cleats had become clogged and loosened, and she could not clip in. Asked about it afterward, she said, "It was a mystery. Stuff sometimes happens and you just deal with it. We're lucky to have these tech zones where you can get help. I went in and got help. I felt like a Formula one driver as I pulled in and out."

The time loss was enough to ensure Premont a third place finish after a tough week in which she was not selected for the Canadian Olympic team.

"It was a hard week emotionally. I knew my form was good and getting better and better. I didn't know if I could deal with the pressure psychologically, but it worked out," said Premont. "I'm happy with my third place."

"It was a very hard race today but a fun course, and I gave everything I had. I knew it would be difficult. I knew I was strong physically so I gave 100 percent. Until the end, I knew I could be on the podium if I stayed focused. It's good to be at home and have the crowd with me. Today was good for me after the week I had." Premont said she will shift her focus to the world championships in Austria in September.

Pendrel moved into the lead on the final lap, and a disappointed Gould toughed it out for second.

"I was just hanging on at the end. I'm glad I was able to hang onto second considering my state," said Gould. "I was crying on the inside on those last laps."

"I'm stoked she held on for second - that's great," said Pendrel.

Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida), who won the last World Cup in La Bresse, France, rode solidly in fifth place throughout the race and crossed the line for the final podium spot.

"It was tough. I had a hard day. I wasn't 100 percent recovered from Europeans two weeks ago. I caught a cold and the week at home was tough. I tried to do everything perfect, but that's how the situation was. Getting over here with the time change and fighting for top five was good, but I didn't have the legs to be in the front and fight for the top three. That was for sure."

She is hoping to recover this week and fight for the win in Windham next weekend.

There were a few big names missing from the women's race including Julie Bressett (BH-SR Suntour-Peissey Vallandry), Maja Wloszczowska (CCC Polkwice) and Eva Lechner (Colnago Sudtirol).

With Bresset absent, Pendrel took over the World Cup lead with 940 points. Bresset is second at 750. Dahle Flesjaa jumped up one spot to third with 678 points. Wloszczowska with 670 points fell to fourth from third while Nash stepped up one place to fifth with 659.

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