Hamilton rider Kate McCarthy dominated racing to claim back-to-back titles at the UCI Esports World Championship at the grand finals in Abu Dhabi today.<\/p>\n
McCarthy set the stage with a dominant performance on the first stage hill climb and from that point was never seriously threatened over the remaining two stages to beat off the other 21 finalists.<\/p>\n
The kiwi rider finished on 597 points from Brazil\u2019s Gabriella Guerra 525 points and Italy\u2019s Francesca Tommasi rounded out the podium with 478 points in the MyWoosh competition.<\/p>\n
The three stages in Abu Dhabi were designed to test the riders\u2019 physical, tactical and mental abilities with varied challenges.<\/p>\n
However defending UCI World Champion, McCarthy proved too strong from the opening stage.<\/p>\n
As the gradient increased in the 8.4km first stage to hit double figures, McCarthy dominated the field, pushing over seven watts\/kg to separate herself from rivals gradually eliminate them from the stage, to open a 28 point lead.<\/p>\n
McCarthy increased the pressure on the second stage, where points were awarded at five checkpoints throughout the 12km loop. The New Zealander made the most of the gradients to go solo at the front to dominate. Second at the first checkpoint, McCarthy then took maximum points, pushing her tally to 433 points.<\/p>\n
The New Zealander sealed the deal in the intense final stage of eight short laps, again dominating from the front.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was aiming to show what I can do up that first climb and then hopefully hang on for the next two stages,\u201d said McCarthy, who support in Abu Dhabi from her family and partner, former kiwi Olympic cyclist, Dylan Kennett.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so cool to have them here. They have been watching every race. Dad turns up and my partner is there every weekend and my uncle watches online. It was so good to have them here.\u201d<\/p>\n
While racing has been online in the qualifying stages, the top 22 riders were together in person on stage for the final.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt adds a different element because we don\u2019t see each other usually and we don\u2019t get to see what each one looks like. So it is cool to bring it all together and to race each other in person,\u201d said McCarthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am still letting it sink in,\u201d she commented after her second world title. \u201cI was just so rapt with last year and with the year I have had, and to get this, I couldn\u2019t have had a better year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marlborough-based Bridget Kiddle, a former hockey international and Ironman athlete, finished 16th\u00a0in her first venture into international esport world championships.<\/p>\n
Christchurch rider Ollie Jones, who has been at the forefront of the global growth in esports racing, finished a respectable 10th\u00a0in the elite men\u2019s competition where Germany\u2019s Jason Osborne won his third straight elite men\u2019s crown.<\/p>\n
Fellow kiwi Michael Vink, who impressed in qualification, was forced to withdraw before the competition with illness.<\/p>\n
Results, Elite Women: Kate McCarthy (NZL) 597 points, 1; Gabriela Schumann (BRA) 525, 2; Francesca Tommasi (ITA) 478, 3. Also: Bridget Kiddle (NZL) 312, 16.<\/p>\n
Elite men: Jason Osborne (GER) 564, 1; Michal Kaminski (POL) 493, 2; Lennert Teugels (BEL) 468, 3. Also: Ollie Jones (NZL) 413.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hamilton rider Kate McCarthy dominated racing to claim back-to-back titles at the UCI Esports World Championship at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-287060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}