PENDREL THIRD AT GERMAN WORLD CUP, MOVES TO 2ND IN OVERALL STANDINGS

Pendrel was in second place behind Annika Langvad of Denmark for much of the race, until the final lap, when Jenny Rissveds of Sweden overtook her for second. Pendrel’s third place moves her into second in the overall standings with 310 points; Langvad leads with 500 points after two straight wins.

In other Canadian results, Emily Batty of Brooklyn, ON, was 12th, Haley Smith of Uxbridge, ON was 42nd, Sandra Walter of Coquitlam, BC, 47th, Cindy Montambault of Val-David, QC, 63rd and Rebecca Beaumont of Alma, QC, 64th.

“It was a hard race,” admitted Pendrel, “but it’s the best my body has ever felt in Albstadt, so I’ll take that as a good sign that my form is there. So I’m excited to take my form to La Bresse [the next round], and see if I can keep moving up. Sometimes when you are in a group you can forget to race for the front, so I tried to just mentally ride as if I was at the front and that allowed me to get a gap, until Jenny caught me on the last lap.”

In the Elite Men’s competition, Derek Zandstra of Trenton, ON, finished 16th, for the best World Cup result of his career. World champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland took his second consecutive win. Canadian champion Raphael Gagne of Québec, QC, was 28th, Geoff Kabush of Courtenay, BC, 81st and Evan Guthrie of Peachland, BC, 96th. Gagne drops from 12th to 15th in the overall World Cup standings, while Zandstra improved from 29th to 20th.

“This is definitely my best World Cup,” commented Zandstra. “I had a 15th at World Championships in 2014, but this my best World Cup, especially in Europe. Last year at this race I kind of redlined myself at the beginning and paid for it, so this year I was a lot more cautious. The first couple of laps I didn’t feel like I was going too hard, because I knew it was going to hurt at the end, and it did. But I held on and I’m pretty happy.”

In the Under-23 Men’s competition, Peter Disera of Barrie, ON, was the top Canadian, in 39th place. Marc Andre Fortier of Victoriaville, QC was 56th, Felix Burke of Mont-Tremblant, QC, 82nd, and Alexandre Vialle of Prévost, QC, 86th. Samuel Gaze of New Zealand took his second consecutive win, to extend his lead in the overall standings.