There is plenty at stake for two kiwi mountain bikers as the 2024 UCI MTB World Cup relocates to North America for the final two rounds.
The penultimate round of the UCI MTB World Cup season is in Lake Placid, New York State ahead of the final season stop at Monte Sainte Anne, in Quebec, Canada next weekend.
Sam Gaze, re-signed with Alpecin-Deceuninck WorldTour team for a further two years, has podium aspirations in the UCI MTB season-long World Cup for both the overall XCO and the short track XCC competitions.
Meanwhile fellow kiwi Anton Cooper, the Trek Factory professional, will return after almost four months out of racing as he battled back from toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection.
Recovery, both physically and mentally, proved a significant challenge for Cooper, with the evaporation of his Paris Olympic dreams, following his outstanding sixth place at Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Sometimes, I wonder what I did to deserve this run of bad luck, but it's time to focus on the positives and get back on track,” said Cooper.
Gaze, following his strong sixth placing at the Paris Olympic Games, was bitterly disappointed when he did not fire at the recent world championships at home base in Andorra and looked for answers in his preparations.
“I am doing much, much better now,” said Gaze. “It is what we thought – that we did not get our altitude preparation quite right and my body reacted the wrong way,” said Gaze who said he was unable to raise his heart-rate to its usual racing levels.
“I did a road race in Germany recently which went well. It was a disappointing worlds but I am pleased to have it behind me and get the answers to the lack of performance. I am excited for the last two rounds in North America.”
Gaze leads the XCC (short course) World Cup rankings, and is in fifth place in the XCO (cross country), just four points off fourth and 62 to third, with 250 points for the winner.
Another kiwi returning is Ben Oliver, who competed in the early rounds in Brazil to help the New Zealand Olympic rankings, but has been based in USA with a mix of road and mountain bike competition.
Trek Factory professional Ethan Rose is racing in the under-23 competition, lying in 23rd place overall.
The Lake Placid competition also comprises a round of the UCI MTB Marathon World Cup, with Rotorua’s Caleb Bottcher doubling up after finishing 42nd in the UCI Marathon World Championship at Snowshoe, West Virginia last weekend.
The under-23 short track races are on Saturday (NZ time), elite short track on Sunday along with the under-23 cross-country, The marathon is on Monday (NZ time) followed by the elite cross-country races.