Canada's Catharine Pendrel competes in the Women's Cross Country Mountain Biking test event at Hadleigh Farm, east of London July 31, 2011. Mountain biking is one of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) test events for the 2012 Olympic games.Eddie Keogh/Reuters
Canada's Catharine Pendrel finished sixth Sunday at a UCI World Cup mountain bike race.
The rider from Kamloops, B.C., finished the 25.5-kilometre course in one hour 30 minutes 27 seconds.
France's Julie Bresset took first in 1:29:17.
Marie-Helene Premont of Chateau Richer, Que., finished ninth, two minutes 11 seconds off the pace, while Emily Batty of Brooklin, Ont., was 10th, 2:56 back.
Pendrel fell behind the leaders early and couldn't recover.
"Somedays everything goes perfect, and other days it doesn't," Pendrel said. "I was shocked after the start lap to find out I had lost over 40 seconds. I was able to make it back to third for a while, but I could feel it in my legs on the last lap. This just makes me a little more hungry for the next one."
Bresset took the overall UCI World Cup leader's jersey from Pendrel with the win. Batty was bumped from fourth to fifth, while Premont jumped up to 13th.
In the men's race, Victoria's Max Plaxton was the fastest Canadian, finishing the 29.96-kilometre course in 14th place with a time of 1:29.18.
"I felt great out there," said Plaxton, who recorded his best ever European World Cup result. "I always knew that I had it in me, I just had to put it together. I'm pretty happy with a top-15, but I know that I can do a top-10."
Olympian and seven-time Canadian champion Geoff Kabush of Courtenay, B.C., was 18th.
Nino Schurter of Switzerland topped the podium with a time of 1:26.46.