Val Di Sole, Italy - final world cup

Valley of the sun - Sure was every day!!! Perfect

U23 women’s (Katie’s report)

We arrived in Val Di Sole on Monday night to primo mountains and weather which lasted the week. We made our way to the track on Tuesday and it was a tough one but it seamed to be one which I felt suited my strengths. It had a great deal of climbing with some pinch climbs which required more concentration and strength to get up and some fast descents, I really liked it but knew it would be a hard race demanding a lot from the body.

The U23 women had 40 starters the strongest field yet on a demanding climbing track, I was seeded towards the back end of the large field which made for a hard start. Off the line the legs did not go and I came through in 24th after the start loop. In the second lap I managed to move up 8 places to 16th and I was feeling as though I could only get stronger however when taking my feed I bounced my bottle back at my poor feeder and ended up without one for the lap, I then took on a gel regardless of not having water thinking I should at least keep the energy going in, big mistake. The gel was impossible to take down and stomach with no water on a hot day and it made for some shaking riding resulting in a time consuming crash with a minor mechanical. I dropped a few places and then seamed to yoyo around for a bit not feeling flash at all. I finished the 4 lap race in 15th pretty disappointed and a little out of it to say the least at the finish where I decided I would crash just riding along the grass no holes in the ground or anything.

Carl - Elite men

Ill keep it short. It was over 40 degrees I usually go mint in the heat but today I didn’t. We had been at a bit of altitude for the perfect amount of time for it to work against you, and had done it a bit wrong with our training up here maybe. I honestly don’t know what went wrong and altitude is the only thing that could have made me feel like a slug. I had a really good start as some of you may have seen on free caster, people said I was seen and mentioned on having a really good start… I had done all of that feeling like arse and maxed out all day, my data shows I was in a small little box of pain the whole race but going no where. It was probably the worst race I have ever had and it just happened to be a world cup so I’m gutted

After the race we were able to watch four Cross racing, the downhill with and Anton Coppers 2nd cross country jnr world cup win. From here it is all focus on training in the build up to the world championships in with the U23 women’s race in12 days. We will head to the track in the morning and it will be all on!