The first World Cup race of the season didn’t go according to plan. In Mairiporã (Bra), I finished the XCC race in 20th place. A day later, I finished 21st in the cross country.
I got off to a very good start in the short track on Saturday. I was right at the front. But the last three laps were a disaster. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time two or three times, got stuck and fell further and further back. My 20th place meant I had a handicap for the start on Sunday – fourth row on the grid.
Having to start far back always means a risk. And unfortunately I didn’t get off to a good start on Sunday in the XCO race. I already fell back on the start straight. On top of that, my legs were turning really badly. That made it impossible to make up positions in the start phase. I quickly realized that I wasn’t just going to plough through the field from behind on this course, as I had done in other races.
Proud to have kept fighting
It’s really difficult to keep up morale in a situation like this, because a top position was out of reach. You have to find a reason as quickly as possible to keep fighting and not give up. I’m proud that I managed to do that. From the third lap onwards, things slowly but surely got better. I never got into the flow, but I was able to work my way up from outside the top 50 to 21st position. Not a good result, but I fought and made the best of a bad starting position.
Now my first priority is to recover. Next weekend, Saturday and Sunday, the second World Cup race is scheduled in Araxá, again in Brazil. There’s a lot to improve before then so that I can be competitive at the start again.
Results:
MTB World Cup Mairiporã (Bra)
