On any other weekend, Vanlandingham’s opening-lap crash wouldn’t have been so costly. But with McConneloug back in North America to race the Quebec World Cup, the margin for mistake proved to be zero. McConneloug has long favored the Mount Snow woods, where she won her first NMBS event on the same course in 2003; the steep climbs and tight singletrack fit her skills perfectly. As she did three years ago, McConneloug used the extended climbs to gain an advantage while riding conservatively on the descents. Despite a strong charge by Vanlandingham that brought her back into second, McConneloug finished nearly two minutes clear.
“I heard the splits on the climb and knew I could take it easy on the descents, not push it too hard,” said McConneloug, who sported some nasty gashes on her left arm and leg from a crash into a barbed wire fence two weeks earlier in Belgium. “I felt really good at Curacao at the first World Cup, and I had some bad luck at the other World Cups, some crashes. I had good legs at those races but once you lose it at the start, you can’t get it back. I was psyched everything went smoothly today.
“Vanlandingham, who retained her overall NMBS lead despite her tumble, said not being able to see McConneloug on the climbs made the pursuit tougher. “I lost maybe 30 or45 seconds in the first little loop of the first lap,” Vanlandingham said. “I had to play catch-up, but I never saw her, she got away. She did great, she charged. I’m happy to get second. Besides the beginning I felt great the rest of the race.”