Racing the Pal Arinsal World Cup in Andorra proved an interesting challenge as Luke hit the dirt in both the XCC and the XCO, yet still managed an impressive finish.
During the XCC short course on Thursday 24 August, Luke was inside the top 20 when he suffered a crash on one of the descents. After scrambling back up the hill to retrieve his bike, and with no time left on the short track to find his rhythm, Luke was forced to muscle his way back into 25th position using pure grit and power, landing him a 4th row start for Sunday’s XCO.
Sunday’s XCO was a wet course, and in an effort to avoid some of the bigger puddles, a gap opened up for Luke and he took the opportunity to leap forward to 4th position. However, a miscalculation on a flatter part of the course led to him clipping a tree and falling back to 18th by the end of the first lap. The u/23 men ran some of the fastest laps of Sunday’s course, despite Andorra being at an impressive and energy-sapping altitude of 2 000m with a brutal wind and chilly six-degree weather on the day. Showing the mental strength and physical ability we have come to expect, Luke pushed through to cross the line in 23rd position, only narrowly missing out on another Top 20 finish.