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CANADA WINS FIRST MEDAL AT MTB WORLDS

Cairns, AUS, September 7, 2017 – Canada won its first medal of the 2017 Mountain Bike Championships on Thursday in Cairns, Australia, with Holden Jones of Squamish, BC, finishing third in the Junior Men’s competition. Roxane Vermette of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Quebec, was the top Canadian in the Junior women’s race, finishing 16th.

The men’s five lap race saw Australia’s Cameron Wright ride away from the rest of the field on the start loop to give the host nation their first title. Behind, the chase quickly came down to two riders – Holden Jones and Joel Roth of Switzerland, a member of the Team Relay world champion squad. The pair had dropped the rest of the chasers by the end of the first lap and rode together until the final half lap, when Roth attacked to open a nine second gap on Jones and win the silver medal.

In other Canadian results, Tyler Clark of King City, Ontario, was 27th and Gunnar Holmgren of Orillia, Ontario, 29th. National champion Brody Sanderson (Oro Medonte, Ontario) pulled out after a crash.

“I think after riding the Relay yesterday and looking at the lap times, that I was there with the faster Juniors,” said Jones. “That really gave me some confidence. That removed from stress from under me and I just did what I knew I could do, and it all worked out. It caught everyone off guard when [Wright] went so quick. The rest of the race was us just trying to hunt him down, but he was on fire today. It’s pretty unbelievable, this is my best race of the year, maybe of my life. I couldn’t be more proud to show the world that Canada is on the map.”

In the Junior women’s category, Canadian champion Vermette rode consistently in the mid-teens throughout the four lap race, finishing five minutes and 32 seconds behind winner Laura Stigger of Austria. In other Canadian results, Dana Gilligan of Oro Medonte, Ontario, was 20th and Leya Masson of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Quebec, was 23rd. Sidney McGill of Edmonton, Alberta, was unable to start after injuring her wrist in training.

“It’s my first year as a Junior and my first world championships, so I’m very proud of what I did today,” said Vermette. “I had no idea what I could do, so my plan was to just go hard on the hill and smooth on the technical section. But I didn’t have a lot of energy in the last lap, so I just did my best. My season has been awesome, so when I came to Australia it has been a dream already and I just tried to do my best.”

September 7, 2017/by Communications

CANADA TENTH IN TEAM RELAY AT MTB WORLDS

Cairns, AUS, September 6, 2017 – Team Canada opened the Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia, with a tenth place performance on Wednesday in the Team Relay. Switzerland won the title ahead of Denmark and France.

For 2017 the Team Relay made a significant change to the format, adding a fifth rider to each team. Now, each squad must include a Junior or Under-23 woman, in addition to an Elite man and woman, Under-23 man and Junior man.

Canada started with Under-23 rider Peter Disera, who got caught up in traffic on the opening lap and finished 11th, 46 seconds behind New Zealand. Raphael Gagne, Canada’s Elite man, moved up significantly on the second lap to put Canada into fifth place as he handed off to Junior man Holden Jones, who put in a blazing lap to move Canada into the lead as he handed off to Elite woman Catharine Pendrel.

Pendrel extended Canada’s lead to a minute going into the final lap as she handed off to Under-23 woman Anne-Julie Tremblay. However, Tremblay faced an impossible task, with Olympic and reigning world champion Nino Schurter leading a group of Elite and Under-23 men after her.

“Our strategy first and foremost was to give each rider a chance to do a dress rehearsal on the course,” explained Dan Proulx, Mountain Bike Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “Our second goal was to be top eight, but with the new format we weren’t sure how it would play out and now we know we are top-10 at this time. Raph [Gagne] had a really good ride to get us into top five and then Holden Jones had the most amazing ride; he just did a stellar job. Our last rider was Anne-Julie, and we gave her the toughest job you could imagine, with eight or ten of the best men right behind her. She rode her heart out. So, overall we were a little short on our objective goal, but it was still a phenomenal start to Worlds for us.”

September 6, 2017/by Communications

CANADA ANNOUNCES JUNIOR, UNDER-23 MEN AND ELITE WOMEN SQUADS FOR ROAD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Ottawa, September 6, 2017 – Cycling Canada is pleased to announce the team of athletes that will represent Canada at the 2017 UCI Road Cycling World Championships, to be held in Bergen, Norway, on September 16-24. The Road World Championships are the culmination of the road season, with title winners awarded the Rainbow Jersey, which they will wear at competitions around the world for the following 12 months.

Team selections have been confirmed for Junior men and women, Under-23 men and Elite women, in both the Individual Time Trial and Road Race events. The Elite men selection will be confirmed following the WorldTour races to take place in Quebec City and Montreal on September 8-10.

“The 2017 Road Worlds mark a special time for Cycling Canada,” commented Jacques Landry, Chief Technical Officer and Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “It highlights the culmination of the first year that Cycling Canada has truly invested in our road athletes through the Maple Leaf Project. Under the leadership of road manager Kevin Field, a team has been selected from among our best road athletes, as well as some track endurance riders. They are equipped to battle both the gruelling time trial and road courses designed by the Bergen organizing committee, in addition to the challenging weather condition that only this part of the world can offer.”

The Junior squad includes recently crowned track world champion Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple Ridge, BC, and national road champion Charles-Etienne Chretien of Amos, Quebec. The Junior squad includes four women and four men, with all riders participating in the road races, and two from each team entered in the time trials.

The Under-23 men’s squad of five riders includes recent Canada Summer Games champion Pier-Andre Cote of St-Henri de Levis, QC, as well as Alec Cowan of Calgary, Alberta, who was 12th in the time trial at last year’s world championships. All five are scheduled to start the road race, with Cowan and Jack Burke of Squamish, BC, entered in the time trial also.

Six riders will represent Canada in the Elite women, including Rio Olympians Karol-Ann Canuel (Gatineau, Quebec), Leah Kirchmann (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Kirsti Lay (Montreal, Quebec). Lay, who won a bronze medal on the track in Rio as a member of Canada’s Team Pursuit squad, has put more emphasis on road racing this season, with multiple podium appearances to her credit. All six riders will compete in the road race, with Canuel and Kirchmann also racing the time trial.

“It’s always a thrill to bring our team to the World Championships,” said Kevin Field, Road Manager at Cycling Canada. “We’re seeing really interesting progressions in our performances at Road Worlds and I’m excited for our outcomes in Norway. I’m especially thrilled with the work happening across the cycling community in Canada at the regional, provincial and national level, through the work we’re doing with the Maple Leaf Project. We’re building fantastic relationships with new funders like Bob and Kim Disbrow, and Bernard Leroux, and we are working really closely with our provinces and trade teams to create more holistic and aligned athlete development.”

“We’re seeing our system-work pay off, notably in our U23 category, where we’ve established consistency with our ability to qualify for the world championships, and are developing athletes sooner. This year it was a particular pleasure for me to reconnect with our Junior categories while working closely with our provinces.”

Junior Women
Erin Attwell – Victoria, BC [Trek-Red Truck]
Simone Boilard – Quebec City, QC [Desjardins-Ford]
Maggie Coles-Lyster – Maple Ridge, BC [TAG]
Laurie Jussaume – Contrecour, QC [VC Contrecour]
TT: Attwell, Jussaume
Reserves: Ann-Pascale Ouellet, Dana Gilligan

Junior Men
Charles-Etienne Chretien – Amos, QC [IAM Gold]
Michael Foley – Milton, ON [La Bicicletta]
Kurt Penno – Brandon, MB [Trek-Red Truck]
Graydon Staples – Orillia, ON [Toronto Hustle]
TT: Chretien, Staples
Reserves: Guillaume Davidson, Noah Simms

U23 Men
Jack Burke – Squamish, BC [Aevolo]
Pier-Andre Cote – St-Henri de Levis, QC [Silber]
Alec Cowan – Calgary, AB [Silber]
Marc-Antoine Soucy – Amos, QC [Silber/Garneau-Quebecor]
Nickolas Zukowsky – Ste Agathe, QC [Silber]
TT: Cowan, Burke
Reserve: Adam Roberge, Will Elliot, Adam Jamieson

Elite Women
Lex Albrecht – Montreal, QC [Tibco-SVB]
Sara Bergen – Coquitlam, BC [Rally]
Karol-Ann Canuel – Gatineau, QC [Boels-Dolemans]
Alison Jackson – Vermilion, AB [Bepink]
Leah Kirchmann – Winnipeg, MB [Team Sunweb]
Kirsti Lay – Montreal, QC [Rally]
TT: Canuel, Kirchmann
Reserve: Sara Poidevin [Rally], Joelle Numainville [Cyclance]

September 6, 2017/by Communications

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR CYCLING CANADA BOARD & COMMITTEE POSITIONS

Cycling Canada is pleased to announce that it is again time for elections to our Board of Directors and our Committees (High Performance, Events, Officials). This year, there are three (3) Board positions plus Board President, and two (2) positions on each Committee.

Cycling Canada is coming off of a high from the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics performances. We have opportunities ahead of us that can help grow the support for cycling IN Canada and help feed our journey to high level international performances. From this exciting position, we want to reach out to the broad base of cyclists in Canada to ensure that everyone is aware of our elections this year. We want to ensure all voices are heard and represented.

“More than ever, our future is bright and with your help working together toward a common goal has never looked so good,” says Pierre Lafontaine, CEO of Cycling Canada.

Some of the possible skills and experience that would be very helpful for positions on the Board and on certain Committees include: Legal, Finance, Human Resources and Events Activation. Revenue Generation and Fundraising is also an skill we always looking for, since we are always looking for more sources of revenues to help our programs and to possibly help feed some of those funds to our provincial partners.

Hannah Parish, Board member and Chair of the Nominations Committee, urges members of the cycling community to get involved: “Volunteering for Cycling Canada is one of the most fulfilling experiences I have had in the past five years. We are looking for people with diverse skills to join us on the Board and various Committees. Come have your voice heard and make a difference in cycling in this country!”

Forms (links to download below) and resumes can be e-mailed to anyone on the Nominations Committee (included on the forms). Please note the due dates – September 12th for Board and October 6th for Committees. For any questions, please reach out to Pierre (pierre.lafontaine@cyclingcanada.ca😉 or Hannah (hslparish@gmail.com).

Nomination Forms

Board and President
English
French

Committees
English
French;

September 5, 2017/by Communications

12 MEDALS FOR CANADA AT PAN AM TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS

Trinidad & Tobago, September 5, 2017 – Team Canada won an incredible 12 medals, including five gold at the Pan Am Track Championships, the Continental Championships for North, Central and South America. The Championships were held in Trinidad, over August 30th to September 3rd. Canada and the United States tied at the top of the standings with 12 medals each.

Jenny Trew, Women’s NextGen Track Endurance Coach at Cycling Canada, said, “This last week was an exciting competition for Canada with all the programs bringing home medals and the team winning five Pan American titles. For the women’s NextGen program the Team Pursuit title was exciting, as it’s the program’s first in-competition ride with an exclusively development lineup, which is a great way to kick off the 2017 track campaign. It’s very exciting to see the depth in Canadian track cycling across all disciples.”

Canada’s Team Pursuit program showed its strength by taking both the women’s and men’s titles. Other gold medals were won by Hugo Barrette in the Men’s Sprint, Derek Gee in the Men’s Individual Pursuit, and the Women’s Madison by Steph Roorda and Allison Beveridge.

Roorda was the most decorated Canadian athlete at the Championships, also winning a silver medal in the Team Sprint with Amelia Walsh, and a bronze medal in the Points Race. Other silver medals went to Barrette in the Keirin, Kinley Gibson and Jay Lamoureux in the women’s and men’s Individual Pursuit, and Aidan Caves in the Men’s Omnium. Beveridge added a bronze medal in the Scratch Race to her gold in the Madison.

“These past Pan Am Championships in Trinidad and Tobago have yielded some of our greatest results since we’ve started participating in the continental championships during the London Olympic quadrennial,” commented Jacques Landry, Chief Technical Officer and Head Coach for Cycling Canada. “For our track program it is always hard to strike a balance between performing at the championships to qualify for world championships and offering this event to some of our Development Performance Pool athletes for development purposes. I think we’ve achieved this balance at these Pan Am Championships.”

September 5, 2017/by Communications

CANADA FINISHES PARA ROAD WORLDS WITH 5 WORLD TITLES

Pietermaritzburg, September 4, 2017 – Canada finished the Para Road Cycling World Championships on Sunday in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, with a historical fifth world title and seventh medal of the championships, when Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, won the C2 men’s road race.

Chernove, who had earlier in the week won the C2 time trial title, took the road race title in a three up sprint after 60.7 kilometres of racing. He finished ahead of Darren Hicks (Australia) and Francois Lacroix (France). Tristen initiated the winning move and led the winning break for most of the race. This is his sixth title in six world championship events (4 Track, 2 Road) since he started racing two years ago.

“It’s been a dream come true kind of a season,” admitted Chernove. “Even leading up to the Rio Paralympics [where Chernove won gold, silver and bronze], and repeating [as champion] both years at Track Worlds … This was my first Road Worlds and I had high expectations. I’ve worked really hard since Rio without taking a break, training and racing, and came here more relaxed and prepared, and it paid off. Today was a great race; I did a lot of extra work trying to keep the pace high and it seemed to work. It’s my sixth rainbow jersey and I can’t get the smile off my face.”

Ross Wilson of Sherwood Park, Alberta, missed out on a chance for a second medal in the men’s C1 road race after he got caught behind a crash, with three riders who managed to avoid the incident winning the medals. Wilson, who won silver in the time trial, chased for the rest of the race to finish fourth.

In other Canadian road race results, Marie-Claude Molnar of St Hubert, Quebec, took sixth in the women’s C4 category, Nicole Clermont of St Denis de Brompton, Quebec, was seventh in women’s C5, the women’s tandem team of Shawna Ryan (Saskatoon, SK) and Joanie Caron (Rimouski, QC) was sixth, and the men’s tandem team of Matthieu Croteau Daigle (Sherbrooke, QC) and Benoit Lussier (Montreal, QC) were tenth.

Sebastien Travers, Para Head Coach at Cycling Canada, summarized the project: “It’s been a very successful world championships – obviously on results, but also on all performances. Our main goal was to evaluate where we stood against our competitors, and this was very positive. We have athletes who are stepping up their games, and we have athletes coming out of a post-Paralympic season and getting their groove back together. So I cannot be more happy than with what we achieved here. The most positive aspect is that our team is very cohesive, which is what we have been aiming for.”

September 4, 2017/by Communications

GAUTIER WINS SECOND GOLD MEDAL AT PARA ROAD WORLDS

Pietermaritzburg, September 3, 2017 – Shelley Gautier of Toronto, Ontario, won her second world title at the Para-cycling Road World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on Saturday, bringing Canada’s total medal count to six for these championships.

Gautier, who had earlier won the women’s T1 category time trial, won the 24.3 kilometre road race with a time of one hour, one minute and 41 seconds, finishing a lap ahead of Toni Mould of South Africa.

The only other Canadians competing on this third day of the world championships were in the men’s H3 60.7 kilometre race, where Charles Moreau of Victoriaville, Quebec, finished seventh, Alex Hyndman of Morpeth, Ontario, was tenth and Joey Desjardins of Hawksbury, Ontario, was 14th. Moreau was with the winning break until he suffered a mechanical problem.

September 3, 2017/by Communications

CANADA TAKES MEDAL COUNT TO 5 ON DAY 2 OF PARA ROAD WORLDS

Pietermaritzburg, September 1, 2017 – Canada took its medal count to five after the second day of competition on Friday at the Para-cycling Road World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. After winning gold and bronze on the opening day, Canadian athletes won two more gold medals and a silver in time trial competitions on Day 2. Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, and Michael Sametz of Calgary, Alberta, both won world titles, while Ross Wilson of Sherwood Park, Alberta, won a silver medal.

In the Men’s C2 category, Paralympic champion Chernove won his first Road title, to add to the four Track world titles he already holds. Chernove’s winning time for the 23.3 kilometre race was 35 minutes and 32.72 seconds, 16.44 seconds ahead of silver medalist Darren Hicks of Australia.

“It was wonderful to win today at my first opportunity to compete at the Road world championships,” said Chernove. “It’s my fifth world title, and what strikes me most today is how ideally set the atmosphere is amongst this amazing Canadian team. Everything about the cohesion of this team is geared towards success, and we are seeing it across the board with all our great results. I’m loving it.”

Michael Sametz, a bronze medalist in Rio, racing in the 23.3 kilometre Men’s C3 category also won his first Road title, with a time of 32 minutes and 48.92 seconds. Benjamin Watson of Great Britain finished second, 37.19 seconds behind.

“It feels really good to win the big one after winning a couple of World Cups this year,” admitted Sametz.

Ross Wilson, a double silver medalist at the Rio Games, led his 23.3 kilometre C1 category race at the first split, but faded slightly to finish 28.21 seconds behind winner Michael Teuber of Germany.

“It was a great course and a lot of fun to be out there racing,” said Wilson. “I felt I rode really well and my training is paying off as my performances continue to improve, but we obviously have more work to do. I’m working with my coaches to devise a plan to find that half minute that I need to take the Rainbow Jersey next year.”

In other categories, Marie-Claude Molnar of St-Hubert, Quebec, was fifth in the Women’s C4 competition, Nicole Clermont of St Denis de Brompton, Quebec, was eighth in the Women’s C5 category, the women’s Tandem team of Shawna Ryan (Saskatoon, SK) and Joanie Caron (Rimouski, QC) was seventh, and the men’s Tandem team of Matthieu Croteau Daigle (Sherbrooke, QC) and Benoit Lussier (Montreal, QC) was 12th.

September 1, 2017/by Communications

GOLD & BRONZE FOR CANADA ON OPENING DAY OF PARA ROAD WORLDS

Pietermaritzburg, August 31, 2017 – Canada opened the Para-cycling world championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on Thursday with two medals, a gold and a bronze. Shelley Gautier of Toronto won the gold medal in Women’s T1 time trial, while Charles Moreau won bronze in the H3 men’s time trial.

Gautier, who won a bronze medal at the Rio Paralympics last year, is Canada’s most decorated para-cyclist. This is her seventh time trial world title, bringing her total of Road (time trial and road race) world championship titles to 13. Her winning time for the 15.5 kilometre race was 38 minutes and 3.35 seconds, 5.11 seconds faster than Yulia Sibagatova of Russia.

“It feels magical,” said Gautier, “to have a team of people who all do the little things that help me … we did it! I’m really, really excited to be world champion, and I’ll treasure it and ride well wearing [the rainbow jersey] in the next year.”

Moreau, of Victoriaville, Quebec, was a two-time bronze medalist in Rio, and this is his first world championships medal. Moreau finished the 23.3 kilometre race with a time of 40 minutes and 22.98 seconds, 52.39 seconds behind winner Paolo Cecchetto of Italy. Alex Hyndman of Morpeth, Ontario, finished 11th and Joey Desjardins of Hawksbury, Ontario, was 14th.

“It feels really good to get my first [Worlds] medal,” admitted Moreau. “This year being a post-Games year and me having a new baby … it’s been a year of ups and downs. So it’s been hard to work [train] consistently, and I was not sure what to expect at these first Worlds after Rio. Today was a great experience, with a bigger field than in Rio, actually. I had a bit of stress at the start with some problems with my bike computer and I started a bit too strong. I had to slow my pace if I wanted to last the whole race, but I did well against some really experienced racers, and I’m really happy about that.”

August 31, 2017/by Communications

KATE O’BRIEN CONTINUES STEADY RECOVERY FROM TRAINING CRASH

Ottawa, August 31, 2017 – Olympic track sprinter Kate O’Brien continues to make strides in her recovery from a serious crash one month ago.

Kate crashed during a motor pacing session at the Glenmore Velodrome in Calgary on July 24 and was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at the Foothills Medical Centre.

Since then, Kate has made a steady recovery. After two weeks in the ICU, Kate was moved to the neurosurgical ward, and last week she was moved to the rehabilitation unit.

Kate’s positive progress means she’s now been able to leave the hospital some days to spend time at her Calgary home. It is anticipated she will be able to resume some light exercise in the coming weeks. She has also been in regular contact with her friends and teammates, which has helped keep her spirits up.

Cycling Canada joins the rest of the Canadian cycling community in wishing Kate a speedy and complete recovery.