Talk about a rollercoaster ride, Saturday in Montreal was yet another whirlwind afternoon for the in-form Hayden Wilde.
Two weeks ago at WTCS Leeds the brilliant Kiwi had been very much the centre of attention, being partly to blame for a bike crash which ruled out Alex Yee and Jonny Brownlee and then going on to win the race.
In Canada on Saturday Wilde again provided a major storyline, enduring mechanical misery on the final bike leg before somehow hauling himself back into contention.
Hayden Wilde on mechanical
Wilde would eventually be outsprinted by his great rival Alex Yee after a race which was full of incident. It was a case of mixed feelings afterwards – knowing that losing his chain had likely ruined his victory chance, but pleased to get back to claim second place.
Afterwards Hayden said: “I was super gutted, I knew coming into the third run I actually felt extremely good, as you could see I had to bridge the gap again. I remember my fellow friend Gustav Iden – he did the same thing in Montreal.
“I was like ‘shall I get off the bike or should I just give it a whirl?’. I nearly caught my finger in the wheel but I got it back on and just had to go for it, I was about 12 seconds back.”
Wilde’s ability to somehow bridge back up to the lead pack was aided by either their failure or refusal to attack when he was trying to get that chain back on, something he was extremely grateful for.
Hayden thanks opposition
“Kudos to the boys out there, they didn’t push the pace. They weren’t attacking to get away from me. Big shout to Vince as well – he pushed me up the hill a little bit so I could try and get the chain back on on.
“Felt real good, I knew I didn’t have a kick against those boys so I just had to go to the front and absolutely hook it and happy to come second.”
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