Quillan Isidore repeats semi-final berth as UCI BMX Supercross World Cup weekend concludes

Quillan Isidore repeats semi-final berth as UCI BMX Supercross World Cup weekend concludes

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Quillan Isidore continued his comeback from last year’s broken leg with his second semi-final finish in two days at the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup.

Round two saw him once again end the day as the best of the Great Britain Cycling Team racers in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, with a busy day of racing rounding off the French double-header.

But he wasn’t alone in finishing one race from the final as Britain’s junior world champion Bethany Shriever, racing independently, suffered a fall at the same stage of competition.

Meanwhile Tre Whyte reached the 1/8 finals, one race ahead of Development Squad rider Ross Cullen, while Quillan’s brother, Tian, repeated his 1/32 final effort.

Kyle Evans was not in action after a crash on Saturday while Kye Whyte, brother of Tre, was confirmed as having broken his collarbone after the first round in France.

Isidore repeats the trick

The elder Isidore sibling had boasted the best result on Saturday and was once again the man to watch in round two of the World Cup, easing through his opening moto of the day.

Indeed the entire male quartet went through without the need of the last-chance repechage, all looking solid as they built on their performances from a day prior.

That was certainly the case for Cullen, one day after making his world cup debut, more than holding his own to battle through to the 1/16 finals.

It was there where the Development Squad rider bowed out but not before improving on his first showing, while Tian Isidore was among those missing out in the 1/32 finals.

Tre Whyte

From there the racing ramped up a notch but Quillan Isidore and Tre Whyte both seemed to handle it exceptionally as the pair reached the 1/8 finals, in impressive fashion too.

Only four racers qualified from a field of eight thereon with Whyte made to work hard for each position, overcoming a nervous finish to head within one race of the semi-finals.

But the remaining Isidore was not leaving anything to chance, out of the blocks the quickest to lead from first corner to last – a place in the quarters also his prize.

And there was more to come too as his superb day of consistency continued, though it wasn’t to be for Whyte, leaving everything on the track before falling agonisingly short at the 1/8 stage.

The battle for millimetres also provided a harsh finale for 21-year-old Isidore, this time in the semi-finals, coming home in fifth and missing out on the final by just one place.

Shriever pushes on in France

A sense of déjà vu came Shriever’s way after suffering a second crash in two days to miss out on the main event.

Saturday saw the junior world champion fail to reach the quarter-finals having finished top of the pile earlier in the day.

But she wasted little time getting back to her feet on Sunday, cruising through in second place in her first race of the day before a repeat performance in her quarter-finals took her within one race of the final.

The tightly-packed semi-final was not to go in Shriever’s favour however, with the pace of the race seeing all eight riders bunched together as the Brit – who was racing independently – failed to stay upright.

Thankfully, she was back on her feet quickly, returning to the bike and finishing the race to pick up points.

That brought to an end the opening world cup double header of the season, with the British team set to head to Papendal, Netherlands, for rounds three and four at the start of May.