Nukeproof Junior riders Chris McGlinchey and Dan Sheridan raced at the UCI MTB World Cup in La Bresse over the weekend, rubbing shoulders with the best in the world and gaining valuable experience on the European race circuit.
After setting up the Nukeproof Junior pits on Thursday, Chris and Dan headed onto the course for the all-important track walk. “First impressions were good,” Chris said. “The track was different to most on the World Cup circuit; flat out at the top through some fields then down some steep rocky fields with a small forest section lower down, with a massive jump to finish."
Friday’s practice went well for both riders, and after six full runs and another track walk it was time for a top class meal and an early night ready for qualifying the next day.
Qualifying started well for Chris, but at this level a small mistake can make a huge difference – so when he went off the track he knew that getting to the Finals was out of his reach: “My quali run was going well. I was hitting all my lines and feeling quite fast; then I made two small mistakes going off the track into some loose rocks and blew wide coming into a steep section. I then just pushed it the whole way to the bottom, coming down in 79th and I knew I didn’t make it as there were over 80 riders still to come down."
Dan was feeling confident for qualifying though, putting in three good practice runs before his timed run, but rode into a tricky switchback and never recovered from there, eventually finishing in 109th place – just two more seconds and he would have qualified; four seconds quicker and he would have hit the top 50. Dan said: “I knew I was riding well so I just wanted to get down without crashing so I’d get through - I rode quite carefully but hit some sections pretty quick.”
“About half way down I came into a tight switchback section which was destroyed since practice and missed the turn and got caught in a tree. I pulled myself out quickly and got going but had no speed and rode the whole next flat bit clipped out missing the jump lines. I then nearly had a massive over the bars at the bottom which I am lucky to have held! With a massive field of about 250 riders it wasn’t too bad.”
Dan and Chris now head to Val di sole, Italy, for the next round of the UCI World Cup (21st August) followed by the World Champs in Champery, Switzerland on September 4th. Good luck guys!
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