Canada opened the mountain bike world championships on Wednesday with an eighth place finish in the Team Relay event.
Switzerland took the title ahead of Germany with a last lap surge, while the Czech team took bronze.
In Team Relay each national team is made of four riders from four different categories - Elite men (23 years and over), Under 23 men (19-22 years), Junior men (17-18 years) and Elite women (23 years and over). Each rider does one lap of the 4.6 kilometre cross-country, handing off to the next rider on their team.
Canada, who has won the Team Relay world title twice, and finished with the silver medal last year, is usually a strong contender in this event.
This year, however, coaches made the decision to hold back their top riders such as World Cup champion Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, B.C., and Geoff Kabush of Victoria. Instead, the selectors went with the less experienced squad of Victoria's Max Plaxton, Francis Morin of Magog, Que., Antoine Caron of Stoneham, Que., and Victoria's Mical Dyck.
"Our focus is the (Elite) cross-country races on Saturday," explained Canada's national coach Dan Proulx. "We have very strong chances for the podium there, and we didn't want to take any chances, that our top riders might lose a bit of their edge."
Plaxton and Morin were the first two riders for Canada, placing the team in ninth place at the halfway point, before Caron put in a very strong lap to move the Canadian team up to fifth.
Canada was one of only three nations to run their woman (Dyck) in the final lap, and she slipped three spots as stronger men passed her.
"I was pretty nervous," admitted Dyck. "It was my first relay. I was pretty excited to represent Canada, though. Off the start I felt good but with (Swiss Elite man) Ralph Naf in front of me I had a bad wheel to try and chase onto. I kind of went out a little bit too hard and suffered a little bit too much at the end."
In the junior women cross-country event, Pauline Ferrand Prevot of France successfully defended her title.
Andreane Lanthier-Nadeau of Quebec City was 10th.