2013 World Cup season so far.

Albstadt, Germany World Cup round 1 (may)
The opening round of the world cup this year was in Germany, Albstadt which is a new world cup course, so I was looking forward to what it would have in store for us. We arrived at the venue a couple of days before my Under 23 race and got to have a look around. I joined a new team in the winter called Superior-Brentjens racing team and they have some of the coolest pits around so it was exciting to get setup and ready to race. It was a late start to the World cup series so we had done plenty of national racing and there was some excitement to start World Cups. The course was steep and technical which was nice and then it rained which added another challenge into the mix. I lined up for the race on the third row and had a reasonable start into the first lap inside the top 20. I worked my way through the field during the first couple of laps and spent a lot of the race in the top 10 which was of my goals for the race. Then in the final laps I dropped slightly off the pace and finished in 14th place which I was still very pleased about as it was the first world cup of the year.

Nove Mesto, Czech World Cup Round 2 (may)
A week after the opening round of the world cup in Albstadt I headed to the Czech Republic for round two. I had raced the course before and it is a twisty loop based around a biathlon complex, they had added a couple of new rock features that livened up some of the wood sections in the course. I was still gridded on the third row and I had a good start and moved myself towards the front group of the race, the first couple of laps of the race went well and I was able to make time on the technical section’s which is always nice. I then struggled later in the race and dropped from the top 10 to finish in 16th place. I felt okay but not my best and since I was still working towards a top 10 I went away to try and make some small improvements before the next round.

Val Di Sole, Italy World Cup Round 3 (June)
The third round of the world cup this year was being held in Val Di Sole, Italy. It was a course that I had raced before a couple of times and featured lots of climbs and some dusty descents, not to mention it was going to be hot race of around 30 degrees. We had done a good amount of prep running into this race and I was confident that I could race for a top 10 place. I had an okay start, it was a fast and scary start as everyone was trying to move up and get in position befor the single track. I rolled round there trying to stay out of trouble around 30th place before settling into the race and trying to move up. I was feeling good and was able to keep moving through the field all the way until I settled in 4th place, I raced here for a couple of laps before breaking away on the final lap and chasing after third place to try and reach the podium. It was close in the end but I finished in 4th 20seconds down but very pleased to have made my goal of top 10 and very happy to be racing at the front end of world cups! 
A week later I raced the European championships in Switzerland and finished in 6th place! 

Vallnord, Andorra World Cup Round 4 (July)

The 4th round of the world cup this year was held in Vallnord, Andorra. The race was at the top of a mountain around 2000m high and it was a new experience for me to race at this level of altitude. We arrived and got some course practice in and found it to be an old style of track with grass climbs and long rough descents. It was going to be a hot race and we raced at 5 o’clock in the afternoon so it meant there was a lot of sitting around before we could take to the start. I was gridded on the second row and ready to go. I made a small mistake in the start and missed my pedal which allowed a lot of people to come around me and before I could get going I found myself outside the top 40. It is always hard in the first couple of laps when you are in this position because the first sections of single track block up and people have to walk and you lose a lot of time to the boys racing at the front. So once I made it through this I settled down and managed to move my way through the field and eventually finished in 16th place.

Next up I have World Championships in South Africa at the end of August.
Thanks for reading, Grant.