“ First two days have been so-so ,” said Michael . “ I kind of had high expectations coming in , and right now , we are a little bit off that . It ’ s been frustrating … I feel fine and I ’ m riding pretty well . I had a couple of really good cross tests , so I just need to capitalize on the woods because that ’ s where I ’ m losing a lot of time .”
Despite solid performances from all riders , the end of Day 6 saw Team USA unable to close the gap on either Team Spain or Team Italy , the home team extending their lead to almost a full eight minutes over the defending champions .
With Team France having held down the fourth-place spot through the opening days , their luck turned on Day 3 when Team Sweden riders of Albin Elowson ( Husqvarna ) and Mikael Persson ( KTM ) made a strong push to jump into fourth place . Any hopes of France regaining the position were lost when riders Theo Espinasse ( Honda ) and Hugo Blanjoue ( KTM ) crashed and were unable to finish the day ; the team dropped from fifth to nineteenth , seeing Team Portugal step up to take their place .
12 LAYNE MICHAEL - TEAM USA 3RD WT / 9TH E2
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 58