Britain's Clacherty battles back from crash for 28th at UCI MTB World Championships

Britain's Clacherty battles back from crash for 28th at UCI MTB World Championships

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Great Britain Cycling Team's Frazer Clacherty fought back from an early crash to finish 28th in the under-23 men’s cross-country race at the 2017 UCI MTB World Championships on Friday.

The 20-year-old went down on the start loop in the blistering heat in Cairns, Australia, battling back to finish six laps of the 4.3k circuit in 1:22:52.

New Zeland’s Sam Gaze defended his title with Alan Hatherly of South Africa second and Maximilian Brandl third.

“I got a good start, I was in the top 20 on the start loop but I got taken down on one of the corners on the single track which put me back into the 40s,” Clacherty said.

“Then I really struggled with my lower back which was cramping me up and preventing me from putting power down for the majority of the race. I’m happy with the outcome given for two-thirds of the race I could barely put power out.”

Under-23 British champion Clacherty had been gridded 33rd and after the opening two laps sat in 32nd.

Lap three saw Clacherty fall to 38th but he then began to steadily move up the pack in the second half of the race. By the end of lap four he sat in 35th before jumping up to 29th on the penultimate lap.

The youngster managed to gain one more placing to cross the line in 28th.

The championships continue on Saturday morning with the under-23 women’s, elite men’s and elite women’s races before the downhill finals on Sunday morning.