Mountain biking: Stevens-McNab leads way for Kiwi gravity riders in France

Finish of the event in Lourdes. Photo / Bartek Wolinski-Red Bull

Rotorua star Lachlan Stevens-McNab has impressed with a fourth placing in the junior men's ranks in the opening round of the UCI Mercedes-Benz Mountain Bike World Cup in France.

Stevens-McNab, in his first outing for the Union pro team, finished only a second off the top three in an exciting first competition at Lourdes.

The Kiwi juniors led the way with Queenstown's hugely promising Toby Meek, who has been riding for MS Mondraker, sixth and Rotorua's Cameron Beck, riding for YD Racing, 12th in his first outing.

Fellow rising Rotorua rider Jenna Hastings, who is part of the Pivot pro team, finished an impressive sixth in her first World Cup start in the junior women.

Brook MacDonald (MS Mondraker) led the way for the elite Kiwi riders in 41st place, ahead of Ed Masters (Pivot Factory) in 48th, the only Kiwis to qualify for the finals from a massive field of 153 starters this week.

Frenchman Amaury Pierron claimed the elite men's win from Canada's Finn Iles and compatriot Loic Bruni in front of a massive crowd at the foothills of the Pyrenees.

There's a significant break in the World Cup downhill competition until late May at Fort William in Scotland, with the cross-country competition under way next month in Brazil.

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