Picture by Alex Broadway/SWpix.com - 10/08/2023 - 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships - MTB Cross Country - Glentress Forest, Peebles, Scotland - Elite Men Cross-country Short Track - sam Gaze - New Zealand gold medallist Photo: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com
New Zealand's Sam Gaze has defended his Mountain Bike Short Course cross-country title at the Cycling World Championships in Glasgow.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist was prominent throughout, with the Alpecin-Deceuninck professional withstanding a challenge to win in the photo finish at the Glentress course in Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders.
Gaze led a group at the front of the field for most of race before making a break on an uphill section with just a few hundred metres to go.
He then held on to beat Frenchman Victor Koretzky in a sprint finish.
New Zealander Anton Cooper was 10th with Commonwealth Games silver medallist Ben Oliver 12th.
Gaze was thrilled with the result.
"That was great. It was a very tactical race. For me I felt it was the safest to ride it from the front, and I could ride my tempo and almost recover a little bit between the climbs.
"The track had a bit of everything - super-technical, super-fast but also the climb made it an attritional race.
"Even if it is only 20 minutes, it is about how you carry yourself in that first portion is what you have left in the last lap. It's a really good course and I am very happy to finish it off and have my second world title in a row in this event."
The riders return for the cross-country races with under-23 men and women tomorrow, and the elite men and women on Sunday (NZT).
-RNZ