I hadn’t raced in almost 6 months prior to this one and it really felt like it too. I’d spent the lockdown period ticking along with training back home during the winter months in New Zealand. I felt I’d done a reasonable job of maintaining my condition but nothing quite prepares you for the cut-throat nature of World Class XCO racing, especially when it’s at altitude.
I felt great for about the first 10 minutes but then found myself going backwards for the rest of the race to finish around 30th in a World Cup level field. Definitely not where I like to see myself on the results list but not entirely unexpected either given the short notice of my arrival back into Europe and the stage of training I was at compared to the Europeans.
It was great to catch up with the team again and blow out the cobwebs. I decided to forgo the next race I had planned to do in France 2 weeks later and instead spend the next 4-5 weeks on some more targeted training for the next Swiss Cup round in Gstaad.
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