Léandre Bouchard leads Canadians at Puerto Rico MTB Cup

Canadians were back in action in Puerto Rico this weekend and, like last weekend, absolutely flying. Léandre Bouchard led the Canuck results at the Puerto Rico MTB Cup, leading a fleet of top-10 finishes across categories with his fourth place in the elite men’s XCO.

Bouchard followed behind Chilean wunderkind Martin Vidaurre (Specialized Factory Racing) and Mexican World Cup winner Jose Gerardo Ulloa. He wasn’t the only Canadian in the top-10, though. Own Clark, Tyler Orschel, Cole Punchard, Quinton Disera and Victor Verreault all joined him, finishing, in order, 6th through 10th in the elite men’s XCO UCI C1 race. It’s another strong showing from Canada’s younger cross country racers.

In the elite women’s race, Cindy Montambault of the newly elevated Project Dialed-In program and Haley Smith represented Canada in the top 10. Montambault added to a string of solid results early this season with a fifth place. Smith chased back to sixth after getting caught up when another rider crashed in front of her off the start.

Puerto Rico was also a UCI Junior Series event. Jacob Roy posted the top Canadian result, finishing fifth in the junior men’s XCO.

Results: Puerto Rico MTB Cup (UCI C1 + UCI Junior Series)

Elite Men

1) Martin Vidaurre (Specialized Factory Racing) 1:24:51
2) Jose Gerardo Ulloa Arevalo (Massi) 1:25:22
3) Georwill Perez Roman (Pan-American Union) 1:25:41
4) Léandre Bouchard (Forresco Holdings ProCo RL Pro Team) 1:26:03
5) Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing) 1:27:00
6) Owen Clark (CHC Armada) 1:27:07
7) Tyler Orschel (Zerouno Factory Racing) 1:27:39
8) Cole Punchard (CHC Armada) 1:27:44
9) Quinton Disera (Pivot Cycles-OTE) 1:28:07
10) Victor Verreault (Forresco Holdings ProCo RL Pro Team) 1:28:17
12) Tyler Clark (CHC Armada) 1:28:42
14) Andrew L’Esperance (Maxxis Factory Racing) 1:29:01
20) Noah Ramsay 1:31:45
31) Zachary Brunelle
33) Simon Ruelland (Pivot Cycles-OTE)
35) William Cote
39) Xavier Roy

Elite Women

1) Gwen Gibson (Trek Factory Racing) 1:26:03
2) Daniela Campuzano Chavez Peon 1:27:36
3) Hercilia Ferreira De Souza 1:28:04
4) Hannah Otto
5) Cindy Montambault (Project Dialed-In) 1:29:35
6) Haley Smith (Maxxis Factory Racing) 1:29:51
12) Emily Batty 1:35:20
14) Julianne Sarrazin 1:36:31
20) Juliette Larose Gingras 1:38:55

Junior Women

1) Amalia Medina Fernandez 1:15:20
2) Yosselin Morales de la Cruz 1:19:59
3) Abigail Pruyn 1:23:37

Junior Men

1) Antonio Gomez Ortiz 1:01:48
2) Gabriel Saenz Villagran 1:02:41
3) David Vasquez Dorado 1:03:08
5)…