This course was long and fast, the high-speed sections gave the riders problems ranging from pinch flats, broken wheels to crashes. Greg Minnaar was quoted saying "...The course is long for sure but that actually makes it more forgiving because you have a chance to make up for mistakes. Obviously today it was really close so I just didn't have enough." The early part of the race was dominated by Chris Kovarik (Fox). Even though Kovarik finished in fifth place, this definitely marks the return of Kovarik from having to lose a year due to a badly broken leg from a motorcycle accident. The race was taken by Fabien Barel, for the men’s, and Tracey Mosely, for the women’s. Fabien Barel was very pleased with his win. "It was not an easy day. Winning this race is a real success. You have to have a real strategy on a course like this. You can't be full gas from the top to the bottom. My strategy was to go kind of easy in some of the technical parts and taking some risks, but not too much, and then trying to attack as much as possible on the fast spots and make some time”.
World Cup contender Sam Hill of Iron Horse Bikes was out of the the race this week due to a fractured elbow after an accident in training the week before.
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