News – Page 93 – Cycling Canada Cyclisme

CYCLING CANADA ANNOUNCES TEAM FOR BMX WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

ROCK HILL, July 13, 2017 – Cycling Canada is pleased to announce the team of 14 athletes who will represent Canada at the UCI BMX World Championships, to be held at Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, on July 25-29.

The team is led by Tory Nyhaug of Coquitlam, BC, the 2015 Pan Am Games champion and two-time Olympian, who finished fifth in Rio last year. Joining Nyhaug in the Elite Men’s field are James Palmer, Gaby Malenfant and Alex Tougas. Tougas finished fourth in the Junior Men last year.

In the Elite Women’s category, Drew Mechielsen of Langley, BC, is having her strongest season to date, making the semi-finals in both World Cups this season. Mechielsen will be joined by Daina Tuchscherer.

In the Junior categories, only three riders out of eight are returning from last year; Riley Lavorato, Ben Leslie and Josh Samells. While these riders will be looking to put their experience to good use, the rest will receive an introduction to the highest level of competition.

“We are really looking forward to the World Championships being in North America,” said Adam Muys, National BMX NextGen Coach. “The facilities at Rock Hill are World Class. We were able to spend some time on the track in March to help get ready for the race. Our team is led by Tory Nyhaug, who is looking to better his fourth place finish at last year’s World Cup on the same course. Alex Tougas will race his first World Championships as an Elite, after finishing fourth in Junior men a year ago. On the female side, Drew Mechielsen is looking to build on her early season success in Elite Women on the World Cup circuit. Lastly, we have a big crop of Junior riders looking to battle their way into the Finals.”

Canada will also have over 300 athletes racing in the Challenge classes, for amateur age group competitors who have qualified through Provincial and National championships.

Elite Women
Drew Mechielsen – Langley, BC
Daina Tuchscherer – Chestermere, AB

Elite Men
Gaby Malenfant – Drummondville, QC
Tory Nyhaug – Coquitlam, BC
James Palmer – North Vancouver, BC
Alex Tougas – Pitt Meadows, BC

Junior Women
Alison Grecht – Parksville, BC
Avriana Hebert – Edmonton, AB
Cayleigh Van Staalduinen – St. Albert, AB

Junior Men
Riley Lavorato – Lethbridge, AB
Ben Leslie – Nanaimo, BC
Felix Maltais – Drummondville, QC
Josh Samells – Milton, ON
Aidan Webber – Nanaimo, BC

July 13, 2017/by Communications

BMX CANADA CUP RETURNS TO PAN AM TRACK FOR ROUNDS 3 & 4

TORONTO, July 11, 2017 – Nearly 100 riders from across Canada competed at the third and fourth rounds of the BMX Canada Cup held in Toronto at the Centennial Park Pan Am BMX Centre on July 8-9.

Round 3 was an internationally sanctioned UCI C1 event, and attracted Canada’s top BMX athletes, including Tory Nyhaug of Coquitlam, BC, who won the Pan Am Games gold medal on this track in 2015.

Nyhaug (Answer/SSquared) showed why he is still Canada’s top elite male rider by sweeping the Motos in the Elite Men’s competition. James Palmer (Yess BMX) finished second to Nyhaug in all races, while Alex Tougas was third.

In the women’s competition, Alberta rider Daina Tuchscherer similarly swept the Motos, with fellow Albertan Avriana Hebert (Yess BMX) narrowly defeating Cayleigh van Staalduinen (Daylight Cycle) for second. Both Hebert and van Staalduinen are Junior aged riders. Drew Mechielsen, who would have normally battled Tuchscherer for the top spot, finished last in the first Moto and, despite finishing second in the remaining Motos, could only manage fourth overall.

At Sunday’s Round 4 – a national level event – Nyhaug did not compete, opening the door for Palmer to win, followed by Jared Ennis (Crisp Brothers Racing) and Tougas.

Mechielsen had no problems on Sunday and swept the women’s Motos, followed by Tuchscherer and Megane Belanger of Quebec.

In the overall standings after four rounds, Nicholas Doyle (Speedco/Avian/Sinz) of Ontario leads the Elite Men’s standings with 2570 points, followed by Palmer with 2060 points. Doyle is the only rider to have attended all four rounds. In the Elite Women’s standings, Chelsea Kingston (Lethbridge BMX) leads with 2660 points, followed by Mechielsen at 2080. Kingston is the only rider to have raced all four rounds.

The Junior standings are led by Alison Grecht (Ssquared/Answer Canada) for the women and Josh Samells for the men. Britney Hovencamp leads the Junior Devo women rankings, while Alex Grecht (Ssquared/Answer Canada) heads the Junior Devo men.

The BMX Canada Cup continues with Rounds 5 and 6 on August 19-20, in St Albert, Alberta.
Full standings for the BMX Canada Cup can be found at: https://cyclingcanada.ca/bmx/canada-cup-series

July 11, 2017/by Communications

FINN ILES CLINCHES JUNIOR DOWNHILL WORLD CUP TITLE

Lenzerheide, July 10, 2017 – At Round 5 of the Downhill World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Saturday, Junior Men’s world champion Finnley Iles (Specialized), out of Whistler, B.C., took his third straight victory, and the fourth of the season in his category. The absence of his usual rival Matt Walker (Madison Saracen) gives Iles an insurmountable lead in the overall standings with 280 points to Walker’s 140, with only two rounds remaining, making Iles the de facto World Cup champion for 2017.

“I’m pretty happy,” agreed Iles, “it has been in the back of my mind all week that I have a chance of winning the overall at this race. I was thinking about it during my run and I almost blew straight off the first corner … I started thinking ‘what am I doing’ and began focussing. I felt like I rode pretty good, even though it was still slippery from the rain last night; all the roots had a good coating on them and it was hard to hold your line. You had to be slower going into some sections and it was more challenging.”

In the Elite Women’s race, Vaea Verbeeck was the top Canadian qualifier in ninth, followed by Canadian champion Miranda Miller (Specialized) in 13th. Miller, still recovering from a leg injury suffered in the second round, finished 12th in the Final, but Verbeeck had the best World Cup ride of her career, finishing seventh, just under two seconds off the podium. Verbeeck improves two spots in the overall standings to 12th, with Miller remaining in 13th place.

The top Canadian of the day for Elite Men was Mark Wallace (Canyon Factory) in 17th place. Forrest Riesco was 43rd, Canadian champion Kirk McDowall 72nd and Henry Fitzgerald (Norco Factory) 75th.

“To be honest, I wasn’t really happy with my run,” admitted Wallace. “But, all things considered, I can’t be too upset. It’s tough to come off a run that felt perfect like last week, and then have one that’s not quite there. It’s such a tough track to race here, I think it’s underrated for how hard it is. In my race run I just struggled and couldn’t flow. I’d push too hard in one section and make a mistake and then not push hard enough in the next one. It was frustrating.”

In the overall standings, Wallace moved up one spot to sixth, at 481 points, with Riesco in 46th place.

July 10, 2017/by Communications

TOP-10 RESULTS FOR CANADIANS AT XC WORLD CUP #4

Lenzerheide, July 10, 2017 – Canada did not score any podiums at Round 4 of the XCO World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Sunday, however, Peter Disera (Norco Factory) had his fourth straight top-10 in Under-23 Men, while both Emily Batty (Trek Factory) and Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro) finished in the top-10 in Elite Women.

Both Batty and Pendrel moved up strongly in the opening laps of the Elite Women’s race, with Batty reaching fourth and Pendrel sixth. However, altitude and a tough rain soaked course – that was shortened by a lap halfway through the race due to the conditions – caught up with them.

Batty, after finishing fifth last week in Round 3 in Andorra, had a strong start and was fourth after the first lap. She faded a bit in the middle of the race, dropping to eighth, before recovering in the final lap to finish seventh. Catharine Pendrel, who struggled in Andorra and started at Lenzerheide on the third row, had a much stronger race this week, setting the fastest lap time on the second lap and moving up as high as sixth before fading in the last lap and a half to drop to tenth. Haley Smith (Norco Factory) finished 23rd, her best result of the season, Sandra Walter (Canadian National) was 27th, Catherine Fleury (Canadian National) was 41st and Cindy Montambault (Canadian National) 50th.

“I’m disappointed with today’s performance,” admitted Batty. “I was hoping to build on my successes in Andorra, and I prepared well. The form is there, and I delivered a great start, but I honestly needed more times splits or position feedback during the race to target a better result and find my rhythm on the course. I also made a few little mistakes which all adds up, especially when the level of racing is extremely tight on a track like Lenzerheide. I’m well within the winning position, I just need to find a way to close that gap.”

Pendrel definitely felt better than last week, commenting “I’m super pleased with today and to feel like myself again out there riding aggressively. It was disappointing to lose four spots in the last lap, but I think I just used too much gas coming through traffic on laps 1 and 2 to be able to up the pace on the last lap.”

In the overall standings, Batty moves up two spots to eighth, while Pendrel remains in 17th.

In the Under-23 Men’s race, Disera had a strong start that saw him in fourth at the end of the first lap, but he began to struggle in the second half of the race, just holding on to tenth at the finish. Disera maintains his fourth place overall in the standings.

There were only two Canadians in the Elite Men’s race – Leandre Bouchard (BH SR Suntour KMC) and Andrew L’Esperance (Canadian National). Bouchard, starting back in the seventh row, managed to make his way up to 37th, while L’Esperance finished 60th, after starting on the ninth row.

Anne Julie Tremblay (Canadian National) was the top Canadian in the Under-23 Women’s category, finishing 29th, with Soren Meeuwisse (Canadian National) 38th and Amelie Simard 46th. Tremblay is the only Canadian in the rankings, in 26th place.

July 10, 2017/by Communications

CANADIANS WIN 8 MEDALS AT PARA ROAD WORLD CUP ON CANADA DAY WEEKEND

Emmen, NED, July 3rd, 2017 – Canada’s para-cycling team had strong results over the Canada Day weekend, with eight medals, including three golds at the third and final round of the 2017 UCI Road World Cup, in Emmen, Netherlands. The team also had an additional 12 top-10 results just outside the medals.

The competition began on Friday with the individual time trial events, where Canada won six medals, led by gold medals for Shelley Gautier of Toronto in the Women’s T1 category, and Michael Sametz of Calgary in the Men’s C3. Also winning medals were Ross Wilson of Sherwood Park, Alberta with a silver medal in the Men’s C1, plus bronze medals for Charles Moreau (Victoriaville, QC) in Men’s H3, Marie-Claude Molnar (St-Hubert, QC) in Women’s C4 and Nicole Clermont (St Denis de Brompton, QC) in Women’s C5.

Wilson, a double silver medalist at the Rio Paralympics in 2016, said “It was my first World Cup of the 2017 season and it was great to be back racing as part of the Canadian national para-cycling team. It was a wonderful opportunity to test myself, and I was very pleased to be standing on the podium. Unfortunately, it was second rather than first, but I think I’m in a good position for [the world championships] in August.”

“After the Paralympics, I was on a bit of a high and continued to work and train with [national coach] Sebastien Travers, and go in a different direction from what I had done in the past. I think we’ve seen some very good results and progress. What also motivated me was the letter we received from Prime Minister Trudeau, encouraging the entire team to have great races and results. It was wonderful.”

The final two days of competition were devoted to road race events, where Canada won two more medals. Gautier took her second gold medal (and third of the World Cup season) in the Women’s T1 road race. Charles Moreau also became a double medalist at this World Cup, with a second bronze in the H3 Men’s road race. There might have been more medals if not for some bad breaks. Ross Wilson was well positioned in the Men’s C1 road race going into the final 500 metres until a crash took him out of contention. The multi-time medal winning women’s tandem team of Robbi Weldon (Ottawa, ON) and Audrey Lemieux (Montreal, QC) lost their opportunity in the road race also due to a crash.

Arnaud Litou, Para-cycling Manager, stated, “The Canadian para-cycling team won eight medals at the final Road World Cup in Emmen, and showed lots of character. All the staff and athletes would like to dedicate these World Cup results to Sébastien Héroux [NextGen para-cycling athlete] who passed away this past Wednesday in Bromont-QC after losing a long fight with illness. In those hard moments for us all, we think about his wife and two children … as Sébastien always said: ‘Pursue your dreams and live your life fully!’ He will always be with us!”

July 3, 2017/by Communications

ILES WINS DH WORLD CUP ON CANADA DAY, BATTY FIFTH IN XC

Vallnord, ANDORRA, July 3, 2017 – Over the Canada Day weekend, the Mountain Bike World Cup resumed at Vallnord, Andorra for Round 4 of the Downhill and Round 3 of the Cross-country.

Downhill
Canadian world champion Finnley Iles (Specialized Gravity) took his third Downhill World Cup victory of the season in the Junior Men’s category on Saturday at Round 4 in Vallnord, Andorra. In other Canadian results, Mark Wallace (Canyon Factory) was seventh in Elite Men and Vaea Verbeeck 10th in Elite Women.

Iles was the fastest at every checkpoint in the Junior Men’s race, finishing 4.973 seconds ahead of perennial rival Matt Walker (Madison Saracen), with Kade Edwards (Trek Factory) third. The Whistler-based rider now leads the standings with 220 points to Walker’s 140, followed by Edwards at 105.

“When I was at the top, [my manager] said ‘It’s Canada Day, put it down’, and I tried to ride as fast as I could,” said Iles. “I’m happy with my time; it was a good day. There was a section where I thought I had screwed up, but I was able to just carry speed out of it. I’d say it was definitely one of my better runs this year and I’m really happy with the result.”

In the Elite Women’s race, Miranda Miller (Specialized Gravity), back in her first World Cup after injuring her leg at Fort William, managed 11th, just behind fellow Canadian Vaea Verbeeck, who took her first top-10 of the season. Miller is 13th in the standings followed by Verbeeck in 14th.

In the Elite Men’s race, Wallace started 13th from the end, setting the fastest time at that point and moving into the Hot Seat. He held the lead until six riders to go, before eventually finishing seventh. Wallace drops one spot in the overall standings, to seventh, but is only 12 points out of the top five.

“I’m happy with the run, it’s a good Canada Day result,” said Wallace. “I think Finn [Iles] beat me this time. The run was mostly what I wanted; smooth and good. There were a few spots at the bottom where it got a bit scary, but that’s normal here.”

Cross-country
Canadian champion Emily Batty (Trek Factory) took her first World Cup podium of 2017 on Sunday at Round 3, with a fifth place result in the Elite Women. Peter Disera (Norco Factory) finished just off the podium in the Under-23 Men’s race, with a seventh place result.
In the six lap women’s race, Ukrainian rider Yana Belomoina took her second straight victory, and the second of her career. Batty had caught and dropped Swiss rider Linda Indergand to move up to fourth but, with a less than half a lap to go, the Canadian crashed, allowing the Swiss rider to get by her. In other Canadian results, defending World Cup champion Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team) had a rare off day, finishing 16th, and Sandra Walter (Canadian National) was 28th. In the overall standings, Batty moves up from 12th to 10th and Pendrel remains in 17th place.

“I’m enthusiastic with riding myself onto the World Cup podium after my performance at the first two rounds was far below my expectations,” said Batty. “I had a clean race today despite a last lap crash that lost me fourth place. I had been working hard the entire race and that likely caught up to me. I’m happy that my performance is moving in the right direction for the latter half of the season. I wanted to use this race to regain some confidence, hopefully build on this result in Switzerland and see what I can do in Mont-Saint-Anne, Canada, for round five of the World Cup.”

In the Elite Men’s race, won by world and Olympic champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland, Canada had only two riders entered, with Leandre Bouchard (BH SR Suntour KMC) finishing 26th and Andrew L’Esperance (Canadian National) finishing 69th. Bouchard is the top Canadian in the standings after Andorra, moving up to 22nd overall from 25th.

“I did a good race with a stronger second part of the race,” commented Bouchard. “I paid the price for a fast start in Laps 2 and 3, but after I recovered, I was able to stay with the riders and then pass them in the last laps when I found my pace. The altitude definitely makes it harder and challenging. I’m happy to finish close to my goal of top-20 and to see consistency in my season.”

Peter Disera was part of the lead group in the Under-23 Men’s race, despite suffering from an upset stomach. He dropped back as the chase group splintered, but still hung on for seventh place; another top-10 result to go with his third place in Round 2 and eighth in Round 1. Disera improved to fourth from sixth in the overall standings.

“It was an immensely hard day here in Andorra with the altitude, slippery conditions and me not totally feeling ‘on’,” said Disera. “I rode a good race with a few mistakes, but the real hindrance came from the body; just felt like I couldn’t get my superman legs. Still, in the end, 7th is not a bad day and it boosts my confidence that I am a top-10 rider with podium potential.”

Canadian champion Soren Meeuwisse (Canadian National) was the top Canadian rider in the Under-23 Women’s race, finishing in 35th place, followed by Amelie Simard in 42nd.

July 3, 2017/by Communications

CANADA SENDS STRONG TEAM TO PARA WORLD CUP #3

Emmen, NED, June 29, 2017 – The Canadian Para-cycling team returns to Europe this weekend for Round 3 of the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Emmen, Netherlands, on June 30th to July 2nd. Canada will take 17 athletes to this event, the final international competition before the world championships.

“As we are heading to the last World Cup before World Championships, we are looking forward to see where we stand against the international field to allow us to put the finishing touches on our preparation towards South Africa in September,” explains Sebastien Travers, Head Coach. “This event will also involve a group of Next Gen athletes, who will be there to try to achieve Top 10 performances as well as meet the National Team A standard.”

Included on the team are multi-time world champion and Paralympian Shelley Gautier of Toronto in the T1 category, plus Rio Paralympians Marie-Claude Molnar (C4 category), Nicole Clermont (C5), Robbi Weldon and Audrey Lemieux (Tandem), Shawna Ryan and Joanie Caron (Tandem), Charles Moreau (H3), Ross Wilson (C1) and Michael Sametz (C3). Most riders will compete in both the road race and individual time trial competitions.

Women
Shelley Gautier (T1) Toronto, ON
Marie-Claude Molnar (C4) St Hubert, QC
Nicole Clermont (C5) St Denis de Brompton, QC
Robbi Weldon (Tandem) Ottawa, ON
Audrey Lemieux (Tandem Pilot) Montreal, QC
Shawna Ryan (Tandem) Saskatoon, SK
Joanie Caron (Tandem Pilot) Rimouski, QC
Cindy Morin (Tandem) Levis, QC
Anais Courteille (Tandem Pilot) Gatineau, QC

Men
Matthieu Croteau Daigle (Tandem) Sherbrooke, QC
Benoit Lussier (Tandem Pilot) Montreal, QC
Ross Wilson (C1) Sherwood Park, AB
Michael Sametz (C3) Calgary, AB
Charles Moreau (H3) Victoriaville, ON
Alexander Hyndman (H3) Morpeth, ON
Joey Desjardins (H3) Hawksbury, ON
Mike Shetler (T2) Montreal, QC

June 29, 2017/by Communications

ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS CONCLUDE WITH CRITERIUM CHALLENGE

AYLMER, June 29, 2017 – The 2017 Global Relay Canadian Road Championships p/b Lexus for Elite, Under-23 and Junior aged riders concluded on Wednesday in Aylmer, Quebec, with the crowd-pleasing Criterium Challenge. The short course, fast paced criterium races are not an internationally recognized championship, however, are very popular in North America and special jerseys are awarded to recognize the winners.

Shortly before the start of the women’s 60 minute race, torrential rain swept through the region. Luckily, it backed off and the sun came out just before the women began to race. The women’s race started cautiously due to the wet roads, however, as the roads dried the pace picked up and crowds began to build. Despite multiple efforts, no riders were able to break clear of the field and it came down to sprint on the uphill finish, with Rio Olympian Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb) outkicking Steph Roorda (Sho Air Twenty20) and Joelle Numainville (Cylance).

“The weather’s been crazy this week and it was raining so hard!” said Kirchmann. “We were on the start line and luckily it finally started to let up. The first few laps we were testing out the corners and seeing how slippery it was, but as it dried up the race got more aggressive. Being without team mates did mean I had to cover a number of breaks but it seemed that everyone wanted it to come down to a sprint. The sprint started pretty early and it was a total drag race to the line. It was great to finish the Championships with a win.”

By the time the men’s 60 minute race began the roads were mostly dry and the attacks commenced from the gun. The Silber Pro Cycling team aggressively covered every breakaway effort, allowing nothing to get more than a 15 or 20 second gap. The pace shredded the field, with riders coming off in bunches, and there were only 28 finishers out of 85 starters. As the race entered the final few laps Silber moved to the front with seven riders, setting up Pier-Andre Cote for the finish. At the line, Cote was just able to hold off Pierrick Naud (Rally Cycling) and Felix Cote-Bouvette (Garneau Québecor) to give Silber the title.

“It was the perfect night for us,” said Cote, “the team rode very well, it was perfect. We took control of the race at the end and I was where I wanted to be in the last corner and went for the sprint, and it was done. You could be really patient with this sprint. I was fifth with 100 metres to go. Other riders had to go pretty early because we were at the front and they were fading at 50 metres to go and I just went by them.”

In the Junior races, both defending champions won, with Maggie Coles-Lyster (TaG Cycling) winning the women’s title and Kurt Penno (Trek Red Truck Racing) the men’s.

“What an epic Championship!” said Mathieu Boucher, Performance Development Director at Cycling Canada. “Riders, volunteers and commissaires had to deal with extreme weather throughout the championships but everyone executed to deliver a memorable event with amazing performances from our athletes. There is no doubt we are moving in the right direction and that we will see more and more Canadians on international podiums. Congratulations to all the new Canadian Champions!”

June 29, 2017/by Communications

MEEUWISSE & GUTHRIE WIN CANADA CUP XCO TITLES

WHISTLER, June 28, 2017 – The Canada Cup XCO Mountain Bike Series concluded on Sunday in Whistler, BC, with the sixth round of competition. Canadian pros Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro) and Geoff Kabush (Scott-Maxxis) won the final rounds for Elite women and men, however, it was Soren Meeuwisse (Trek Canada) and Evan Guthrie (Pivot/RaceFace/Kal Tire) who won the overall titles.

Whistler played host to the Canada Cup final for the fifth consecutive year. This year, the race took place on Blackcomb Mountain, adjacent to the Whistler resort. The four kilometre circuit featured two main climbs that were broken up with some single track descents. The elevation change of 240 metres for such a short course, plus temperatures rising into the 30s Celsius made for a hard day of racing.

Olympic bronze medalist Pendrel rode away from the rest of the field to win by nearly ten minutes. B.C. riders Jayne Rossworn and Emily Unterberger took second and third. Meeuwisse, only a second year Under-23 rider, was absent, but had already wrapped up the women’s title after the previous round. Meeuwisse finished with 740 points, while Rossworn jumped from sixth in the standings to second, pushing Quebec’s Marine down to third.

In the Elite men’s race, Canadian legend Geoff Kabush won by over a minute ahead of American Stephen Ettinger (Focus/Shimano), with Guthrie taking third, two minutes back. Guthrie, the winner of Round 2 moved back into the lead in the overall standings with 805 points. Quinton Disera (Norco Factory), the previous leader and Round 3 winner who missed Whistler, dropped to second in the standings at 670 points, with national champion Derek Zandstra (Cannondale-3Rox) taking third at 505 points.

“Taking the Canada Cup overall this year was a way I hoped to thank all my supporters,” said Guthrie, who is racing on his own without a team this season. “So many came together to help form my program for 2017 and I just can’t put the appreciation into words. One day races are always special, like Nationals and Worlds, but consistency over a six race series, because of the many battles along the way, is rewarding. My races were far from perfect this year but with the help of many, I was able to clinch the Series. This one is for everyone who has continued to support me and the ones who jumped on board for this year. It was also an extra special weekend for me to have family out. My 88 year old grandma made the trek and toughed it out all day in the sun, walking to and from the venue. Sharing that with them was what it’s all about.”

In the Junior categories, Julia Long (Cycling BC / TaG Cycling) won the women’s race and Holden Jones (Cycling BC / Team Squamish) the men’s. Despite missing the final round, both the men’s and women’s leaders each retained their leads to take the overall titles, with Gunnar Holmgren (Centurion Next Wave) winning the men’s and Leya Masson (CC Mont-Ste-Anne) the women’s.

June 28, 2017/by Communications

CANUEL AND TUFT TAKE TIME TRIAL TITLES

GATINEAU, June 28, 2017 – After a training day on Monday following the road races over the weekend, the Global Relay Canadian Road Championships p/b Lexus for Elite, Under-23 and Junior aged riders resumed on Tuesday with the Individual Time Trial competitions for all categories.

The course in the Gatineau Park takes the riders through stunning forest, with the road climbing for the first half before competitors turn around for an equally long descent back to the finish line. Junior women covered 16 kilometres, Junior men and Elite/Under-23 women did 26 kilometres and Elite/Under-23 men 36 kilometres.

In the marque Elite category, two familiar faces returned to the top step after an absence of one year for Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels-Dolmans) in the women and two years for Svein Tuft (Orica-Scott) in the men, an incredible tenth time trial title for the Langley, B.C., pro.

The women started in dry conditions before rain swept in for the latter half of the race. Alison Jackson (Be Pink), the bronze medalist in the Road Race on Saturday, set the first fast time, which stood up until Olympic bronze medalist Kirsti Lay (Rally Cycling) knocked 57 seconds off the leading time, to take it under 42 minutes. Lay stayed in the lead until former national champion Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb) went below 40 minutes, at 39:54. Kirchmann kept the lead until Canuel, the final starter, knocked over a minute off the leading time. Sara Poidevin (Rally Cycling) finished third overall and was the top Under-23 rider.

“I’m really excited to be champion again,” said Canuel. “I was sad to lose it last year, and I’m really happy to win it in front of my family in my town. It was really, really hard, especially with the rain and the headwind and climb.”

The men’s race began with wet roads but no rain, however, that changed to torrential rain and even some hail at one point. The rain backed off for a little while but then came back on the upper parts of the course while the finish area was starting to dry out.

Nigel Ellsay (Silber Pro Cycling), the ninth rider to start, took the lead with a time of 48:18, only three seconds off the winning time last year by his team mate Ryan Roth in dry conditions. Ellsay’s time held up as riders continued to finish and was starting to look unbeatable as the conditions worsened. Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) was closest at 17 seconds with three riders left to finish, but that next rider was Tuft, who has dominated the time trial like no other rider in Canadian history, with nine titles coming into this race – plus two road race titles. Tuft swept across the finish line five seconds faster than Ellsay to take the lead. Defending champion Ryan Roth, the final finisher, could only manage 12th. Adam Roberge (Silber Pro Cycling) finished fourth overall to take the Under-23 title.

“On a course like this, it’s more of a grind,” said Tuft, “so rain or shine it doesn’t make a difference; it’s just a tough course. For sure, I had motivation [to get back the title]. The level has come up so far in Canada. It was a personal ambition for me to keep my form after the Giro [d’Italia] and have a good ride here. I’m happy I came and made the effort.”

In the Junior categories, Dana Gilligan (TeamOntario/Maverix) won the women’s title ahead of new road champion Laurie Jussaume (Equipe du Quebec), with Erin Attwell (Cycling BC) in third. Graydon Staples (Team Ontario/Toronto Hustle) won the men’s title in front of road champion Charles-Etienne Chretien (Equipe du Quebec) and Chris Ernst (Team Ontario).

The Global Relay Canadian Road Championships p/b Lexus conclude Wednesday evening in Aylmer, Quebec, with the Criterium championship.