Catharine Pendrel is Rio bound after top 5 finish at cycling worlds

Catharine Pendrel will be racing in her third Olympic Games next summer.

The Kamloops, B.C., resident earned her spot at the Rio Olympics — the first Canadian cyclist to do so — by posting a top-five result at the UCI World Championships on Saturday in Vallnord, Andora.

Pendrel finished the road race in 1:54:59 to take fifth place. Emily Batty of Oshawa, Ont., finished seventh, posting a time of 1:56:26, while French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prevot was crowned the new world champion with a time of 1:52:44

"We had really strong rides from Pendrel, Batty and Gagne today" said Cycling Canada in a statement. This was an extremely tough course. Even though the weather improved, there were a lot of areas that were still slick.

"There were also a lot of tough battles for position today. I'm happy to see that our riders were prepared for that and fought hard to the end. It may not have been a medal day, but it definitely shows that we are strong and have lots of momentum heading toward 2016."

In the men's race, Quebec City's Raphael Gagne ended the season with an 18th-place finish.

Gagne flirted with the top 12 in the third and fourth laps, but dropped a few positions towards the end. He crossed the finish line just over five minutes after Nino Schurter of Switzerland.

Results:

Cross-country elite women 

1. FERRAND PREVOT, Pauline (FRANCE) 1:52:44
2. KALENTYEVA, Irina (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) +0:58
3. BELOMOINA, Yana (UKRAINE) +1:36
4. DAHLE FLESJAA, Gunn-Rita (NORWAY) +2:15
5. PENDREL, Catharine (CANADA) +2:15
6. WLOSZCZOWSKA, Maja (POLAND) +2:52
7. BATTY, Emily (CANADA) +3:42
8. SPITZ, Sabine (GERMANY) +4:02
9. NEFF, Jolanda (SWITZERLAND) +4:57
10. DAVISON, Lea (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) +5:14

Cross-country elite men

1. SCHURTER, Nino (SWITZERLAND) 1:29:22
2. ABSALON, Julien (FRANCE) +0:10
3. CINK, Ondrej (CZECH REPUBLIC) +1:15
4. FUMIC, Manuel (GERMANY) +1:22
5. FLUCKIGER, Mathias (SWITZERLAND) +2:08
6. MAROTTE, Maxime (FRANCE) +2:25
7. NAEF, Ralph (SWITZERLAND) +3:13
8. VOGEL, Florian (SWITZERLAND) +3:14
9. DRECHOU, Hugo (FRANCE) +3:48
10. VAN HOOVELS, Kevin (BELGIUM) +3:54
=====
18. GAGNE, Raphael (CANADA) +5:11
42. KABUSH, Geoff (CANADA) +10:28