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Kiwi mountain biker Sam Gaze has successfully defended his short course cross-country title at the UCI World Championships in Glasgow on Friday (NZ time), in the narrowest of fashion.
The 27-year-old – a reigning two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the longer format – was prominent throughout the 57-rider field in a race on the rough terrain and steep slopes at the Glentress course in Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders, featuring laps of just under one kilometre.
In the end, the Alpecin-Deceuninck professional from Cambridge had to withstand a late sprint from Frenchman Victor Koretzky to prevail in a photo finish, the pair clocking in at 20 minutes, 27 seconds, with Great Britain’s Tom Piddock two seconds back in third. Fellow New Zealanders Anton Cooper and Ben Oliver were 10th and 11th, respectively.
Gaze took the lead on the third lap, and cut a relaxed figure with the high pace he was setting, then on the final ascent he powered up further, creating a two-second gap, before holding on.
The victory – which follows’ Gaze’s twin triumphs last year in the short course in France and in the marathon in Denmark – came as a relief to him, having been unable to convert hard-working preparation into form on race day in key World Cup races this year.
SWPIX
Sam Gaze celebrates victory in what was a photo-finish in Glasgow.
“I’ve been struggling with my condition the whole season and it feels like almost nothing has been working, so to come in with my best possible shape into the world championships, I am really happy about it,” Gaze said.
“It was a very tactical race. For me, I felt it was the safest to ride it from the front, and I could ride my tempo and almost recover a little bit between the climbs.
“The track had a bit of everything – super-technical, super-fast, but also the climb made it an attritional race. It’s 20 minutes and not what you carry in the first part, but what you have for the last. It’s a really good course, and obviously I’m really happy to finish it off and have my second world title in this event.
The riders return for the cross-country races on Sunday (NZT), with the championships part of the “Super Worlds” featuring all 13 UCI cycling disciplines staging respective world championships over 11 days in and around Glasgow.
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