Canada wasn't quite as kind to the team for the fourth round of the Rocky Roads UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup as Fort William was two weeks ago. The fast, rough and long track was as brutal as usual on the bikes and riders with a good amount of pedalling, high speed rough sections, technical wooded/rocky sections and big jumps – Mont Sainte Anne tests the riders to the limit on skills, strength and fitness.
Matt Simmonds continued his excellent form finishing in 19th place with Joe Smith taking 33rd and Lewis Buchanan in 51st. Matti Lehikoinen unfortunately had a bad crash, failing to cross the finish line. Al Bond crashed twice in qualifying and didn't make it to the finals.
Team Manager Nigel Page reports: "Matt Simmonds had another fantastic result finishing in 19th and moves up another place in the overall to 16th! Well done Matt. Matt Simmonds is riding solidly each week now and is up there with the fastest guys in the world.
Joe Smith and Lewis Buchanan both qualified well and were riding great, but unfortunately their finals run didn't go quite to plan. Lewis hit a tree in a fast wooded section and fell over. Lewis ended up 51st for the day. Joe Smith slid out in a corner before a drop and ended up running at the side of his bike but jumped back on and saved a crash. Joe said he then just made lots of small mistakes trying to make up time. He ended up 33rd, only three seconds off the top 20, showing he has the speed again to contend with the top guys and he also stays top 20 in the overall in 20th place.
The big disappointment for the team this week was Matti Lehikoinen going down in the finals in the last 20 seconds of the track. Matti was having a great run and the clock was showing he was going to post a fast time for a good result. Then as Matti popped out of the last wooded section and through the final rock garden, he clipped a rock with his front wheel after just going slightly off his line. Matti flipped over the handlebars and into a berm.
After a trip to the hospital, sadly it looks like Matti has been unlucky with his fall once again, separating his shoulder and tearing a muscle in his groin! Matti is really devastated by this as he is still recovering from the terrible injuries he sustained at the end of last season. I think this is harder for Matti mentally more than physically, but time will tell how he's going to cope with this setback. He is a strong kid and we are all 100% behind him!
Al Bond unfortunately crashed twice in the qualifying round which put him out of the finals. This was a real shame as Al was riding really fast in practice and was loving the track. Al had a stupid crash up at the top of the track and then went down again hard further down, trying to make up time.
Thanks to our Team Mechanics Brooks and Carl for keeping the bikes running great on the harsh track and also thanks to Jeremiah Dillon Dean for his help with bringing our bikes from the airport and providing support with our tech space.
We are packed up now and head off for the drive down to Windham, New York, in the morning for the fifth round next weekend.