BENDIGO'S Tasman Nankervis has finished 12th at the XCO Under-23 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event in Cairns.

Nankervis was the second Australian home in the race, won by New Zealand Olympics hopeful Sam Gaze.

The Kiwi outsprinted French riders Romain Seigle and Titouan Carod to claim the honours.

Danish rider Sebastian Fini Carstensen was fourth, with Tasmanian Scott Bowden the first Australian home in seventh place.

Nankervis, who last week won the elite men's race at the Golden Triangle Epic in Bendigo, said he was happy with his result.

"(The race) was pretty brutal, it's pretty humid here in Cairns," the 20-year-old said.

"It's a lot different to how Bendigo was the previous week.

"I would have liked to have got top 10, but 12th I'm happy with.

"There was plenty of good riders in the field and to beat a lot of the European guys is pretty pleasing."

The Cairns event was the opening race in the World Cup series.

The remaining six events will be staged in Europe (four) and North America (two).

Nankervis and older brother Russell are busy preparing for the UCI 2016 World Cross-Country Championships, to be staged in the Czech Republic from June 29-July 3.

"We went over to Europe last year as well to do some similar racing," he said.

"I been happy with my form lately, it's probably some of the best form I have had in a long time.

"There's been a lot of marathons on in Australia and plenty of racing leading up to (Cairns).

"The Epic in Bendigo was a good lead-up and I was pretty happy to get the win there in my hometown."

Next on the agenda for the Nankervis brothers is a trip to Germany in about four weeks time.

Russell finished down the order in the elite men's World Cup race in Cairns, coming into the race with a limited preparation after dislocating his finger two weeks ago.

“He hasn’t been able to ride the mountain bike that much – he’s been on the road because he’s had to go easy on the finger,” Nankervis said.