Whoa, what a day of racing over in Whistler! How the heck did Jared Graves do that‽ Suffering mechanicals and bad luck most of the day, he was off the pace coming into the final stage, but came through with a scorching run to take the top step. Nico Lau and Curtis Keene rounded out the top 3. Justin Leov suffered more than most (and there were a lot of broken riders out there), after being ill the night before he toughed it out and still finished 6th! Jamie Nicoll slotted into 20th and Joe Nation 36th.
On the ladies side of things, Anne-Caroline Chausson had the opposite of Graves’ luck, after leading convincingly all day she suffered a flat in the last stage to hand the win to her countrywoman Cecile Ravanel, with Tracy Mosely taking 2nd to retain the series lead. Rosara Joseph continued her rise up the rankings with 5th, while Meg Bichard had another great ride into 8th. Raewyn Morrison also stepped it up with 14th, with Gabby Molloy hot on her heels in 15th, while Anka Martin rounded out the day in 18th.
Damn that is an EPIC race… well done to Jared and Cecil… stoked to see an old XCer finally win one! And epic battle & results for kiwis too…