Team Canada's best finish at last weekend's U23 cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup in Pal Arinsal, Andorra was eighth, courtesy of Marin Lowe who finished in one hour, 20 minutes and 9 seconds.
Lowe's fellow Squamolian, Ella MacPhee, did well to fight for 11th after an opening section crash derailed her podium hopes (1:21:41).
Instead it was Valentina Corvi who put forth a convincing golden performance (1:15:43). Silver medallist Monique Halter of Switzerland was well back of the Italian (1:19:08) and Sina Van Thiel collected bronze for Germany (1:19:16).
"Tight racing start to finish! Conquered the altitude, and it felt pretty darn good to put down a solid race on this track after breaking my wrist here last year," Lowe said on her Instagram account. "This wraps up a solid euro block. Huge thank you to my [Liv Cycling] fam for all the support, energy, and laughter these past weeks! You guys rock. Time to head back to sea level for some [national championship] action."
MacPhee still leads the women's U23 overall ranking with 591 points, but Corvi, who missed two World Cup rounds due to a broken collarbone, has narrowed the gap significantly (527). Sara Cortinovis occupies third place (463).
"I have no words to describe the race," said Corvi in a press release. "I tried to manage the race from the beginning, and I didn’t make mistakes which was the most important thing. On the last lap I crashed two times. I’m super happy to win here. The next week I do the nationals in Italy, the European Championships and then a break before preparation before the worlds."
Finn Treudler (1:11:13) led a Swiss sweep of the men's U23 event, concluding a perfect weekend in Pal Arinsal that also saw him win the short track (XCC) race. Nicolas Halter (1:12:26) and Maxime Lhomme (1:13:00) rounded out the podium.
Treudler told reporters: "I felt really strong today and I’m super happy to take the win after a disappointing race in Val di Sole. I’m super stoked to get the double here and I’m really proud of this one. I just focus on myself and being the best version of myself, at the moment it is working out super good. I want to defend my title at the European Championships, so my objective is now on that race after a small break. Then, I’ll be [fully focused] on a home World Championships.”
Click here for more results from Pal Arinsal.
