The first race of the World Championships started with the team relay. For the first time in many years Australian had a team on the start line.

    The basic principle of a team relay is that you select your fastest Elite Male and Female, U23 Male and Junior Male and everyone does one lap each. The first team over the line after having each rider complete 1 lap wins.

    Lachlan Norris completed the first lap bringing us home in 14^th which was a great result considering our start position of 18^th.  The mud had settled in to stay after a few days of inconsistent rain.

     As a warm-up for the Worlds we headed to a few kilometres out of town for an Italian National round. We had had the chance to ride a lap of the track the day before so we knew what it would be like. The track was much different to what I had expected, from what others were saying I gathered there was a lot less single track and a fair bit more racing through grassy fields.

    This was definitely the case, even more so than I had expected, the track consisted of mostly mown paths through fields with a small section of technical single track and the rest wound its way through Italian streets. I managed to crack my rear carbon brake lever after losing my front wheel around a grassy off camber turn. We were unable to find a replacement so I switched it with my front in case it fully snapped off during the race. If the front lever snapped at least I could still race.