Chris Dawson has said he gave it his all in the cross-country Olympic mountain bike race at the World Championships in Glasgow yesterday, on a day when Tom Pidcock won the title but was very critical afterwards of the rule change that marred the build-up to the race.
Dawson, formerly McGlinchey, has turned his attention to MTB of late, having started in downhill, where he was Irish champion, before turning to road racing, where he fought his way into the national squad in his first year.
He has been racing abroad in MTB events this year, and has impressed with a series of very strong results - including a victory - in UCI-ranked races in Continental Europe, as well as winning the Irish title.
Those results were more than enough for him to secure selection for the Worlds, the only Irish MTB rider to be selected. And having placed 59th yesterday in Peebles, he is now in the middle of a process of trying to qualify for the Olympics next year.
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"I gave it absolutely everything today, super proud of the effort and the season I’ve had," he said, adding he was very grateful to the Irish supporters around the course yesterday.
Meanwhile, the winner of the race - Pidcock of Great Britain - has spoken out about a very unfair decision to effectively bump up him and other superstars from the back of the grid to a more advantageous position starting the event.
The gridding should be based on points gained in races, though a special concession was offered to Pidcock, Mathieu van der Poel and Peter Sagan - ensuring the stars of the road peloton were moved up through the gridding. Established MTB riders released an open letter of protest before the race and after the event Pidcock joined their criticism.
"I didn’t want to get involved in this rule changing shit show before the race but I feel something needs to be said", Pidcock said. "Even though this did end up benefiting me I’m in complete dis-agreement with it. This rule wasn’t made for me or requested by me or from my camp.
"I sacrificed three weeks of prep for the Tour de France, extending my spring before taking a break, in order try get as many points as I could for this world champs. If a rule like this is to be made, it needs to be at the start of the year. I support the rider representatives position."
