Thomas Litscher on his way to victory
A bronze medal for Britain's Dave Fletcher
Peaty cruises his DH seeding run
These Champs just seem to get better and better. Not only have we had the good news that Liam Killeen is hopping back on his bike to give the senior XC a go, but at last the rain has stopped. Oh and Great Britain got its first medal of the week!
British medal winners in men's XC events have historically been thin on the ground since the early 90s and the days of David Baker. Liam Killeen got himself a silver in the U23 event in 2004, but other than that there's been hardly a sniff of a medal at the World Champs. Today, though, it was the turn of another Dave, junior Dave Fletcher, to update that record. He came home in the junior men's XC to claim a fantastic bronze, a stunning 15 places better than his previous outing last year in New Zealand.
To say he was delighted might have been a slight understatement.
Winner of this tough category, which saw 89 riders line up, was Swiss junior Thomas Litscher, who got away from a small group on the last lap to take the win from Polish rider Piotr Brzozka by 27 secs, with our man Fletcher coming in 3rd just 13 secs down.
DH seeding took place today too and it seems GB are in prime position to take a few more medals come Sunday. With Rachel Atherton not looking slick after her enforced lay off due to injury, she's coming out kicking and screaming. Tracy Moseley, in her usual stoical self, came home in a reserved 2nd. Peaty took it easy cruising home in 13th place, unlucky for some but hopefully not for him. Meanwhile Gee Atherton was hot on the heels of fastest man Greg Minnaar, with only 0.06sec separating them in the senior run. The juniors too, looked hot as Ruaridh Cunningham and Josh Bryceland picked up 1st and 2nd between them, They're gonna be the boys to beat.
The weekend's racing is shaping up to be a real treat for all the spectators, there's gonna be some big guns out there looking for that ultimate prize and there're quite a few GB riders right in the mix... Should be awesome.
