Sheppard Takes on World Stars in European Mountain Bike

New Zealand rider Samara Sheppard continued her strong form on the mountain bike circuit in Europe at the weekend.

The Rotorua-based under-23 rider finished 10th in the elite women’s race at the Swiss Bike Trophy race in Bern.

The event drew world class a week out from the European Championships and with the revamped 4.5km lap course at Bern set to host next year’s championships.

Sheppard, currently eighth in the under-23 World Cup rankings, had a strong race to finish seven minutes down on Wheeler iXS teammate Ester Suss who is currently 14th ranked in the world and already qualified for the London Olympics for mountain bike heavyweights, Switzerland.

She was six minutes down on third placed Sabina Spitz (GER) the Beijing Olympic gold medallist.

“It was a tough race at the Swiss Bike Trophy. My gas tank was low and I was happy to finish in such a strong field,” Sheppard said.

Rotorua’s Dirk Peters, another classy kiwi under-23 rider, finished 29th in the elite men’s field finishing just over 11 minutes behind winner and mountain bike legend Julien Absalon, the two-time Olympic gold medallist.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Christchurch under-23 Brad Hudson began his international campaign with 14th place in the elite race at the Canada Cup race in Hardwood, Ontario.

The tough 6km lap course was made more challenging with wet weather and among Canada’s best elite riders, preparing for the upcoming World Cup circuit as well as the national series.

“It was a good result to start the racing with.  The race was wet and I wasn’t running the right tyres for the job but worked with what I had on and got the job done,” Hudson said. “It was a good blow out to shake off the jet lag as we have only been here a few days.”

Palmerston North’s Mat Waghorn did not have much fortune, forced out just over halfway through the race after the wet conditions caused a didn’t have much luck on his side and suffered from chain suck in the wet conditions which forced him to DNF with a mechanical just over half way through the race.

Their programme includes the UCI World Cup races in Canada and USA later this month.

CAPTIONS: Samara Sheppard in action in Europe. Credit: Gert Van Horebeek Alfons Benz