(Montreal) Laurie Arseneault battled for the top-10 at the Mountain Bike World Cup held in Snowshoe on Sunday, West Virginia. She finished 12e cross-country, the best result of his career among the elites, a week before the circuit is at Mont-Sainte-Anne.
Posted at 10:01 a.m.
Last year, Arseneault was ranked 26e to this event. This time, she quickly found herself close to the top ten competitors. After two laps, the athlete from Terrebonne was ninth, 11 seconds off the lead. She flipped between the 11e and 12e places thereafter to finish 6 minutes 3 seconds behind the winner, Alessandra Keller, of Switzerland.
Keller remained among the leaders from start to finish on Sunday. She widened a gap of about thirty seconds over the Swedish Jenny Rissveds (+37 seconds) in the last lap to win solo. Dutch Anne Terpstra finished third, 50 seconds behind the gold medalist.
Laurie Arseneault entered the World Cup circuit in 2021, having been crowned Canadian under-23 champion in 2018 and 2019.
Also in action at Snowshoe, Cindy Montambault took the 27e rank (-2 lap).
Earlier, Marianne Théberge raced in the under-23 category, as did Juliette Larose Gingras (13e) and Roxanne Vermette (14e).
Top-30 for Léandre Bouchard
In the men’s event, Léandre Bouchard was 30e (+5 minutes 40 seconds) to cross the finish. Placed in 38e place at the end of the third lap, the Almatois quietly climbed the slope.
Victor Verreault was ranked 39e (+8 minutes 39 seconds) of this race won by Spaniard David Valero Serrano. Frenchman Titouan Carod (+5 seconds) and Italian Luca Braidot (+11 seconds).
Quebecers Raphael Auclair (43e), Felix Belhumeur (47e) and Anthony Audet (58e) were also in action. For his part, Marc-André Fortier was unable to finish the race.
Among the under-23s, William Côté was the best Quebecer by finishing 27e (+7 minutes). Xavier Roy, Vincent Thiboutot and William Maltais Pilote, are respectively at 35e42e and 46e rungs.
The next stop is scheduled for Quebec, next weekend, on the occasion of the World Cup presented at Mont-Sainte-Anne.