St-Georges, Quebec, June 18, 2018 – Team Canada had one of its strongest showings ever at the Tour de Beauce, Canada’s premier UCI-sanctioned men’s stage race, with James Piccoli of Montreal winning the overall title and a stage, Ben Perry of St Catherines taking the Climber’s Jersey, plus winning the Team General Classification as the top team.

Piccoli had a dramatic come-from-behind victory, winning the penultimate fourth stage to move up from 14th to eighth in the overall standings, and then driving the breakaway on the final day with team mate Jordan Cheyne of Kelowna, BC, to take the Yellow Jersey by 11 seconds. Piccoli is the first Canadian winner of Beauce since Svein Tuft in 2008, and the first winner from the host province of Quebec since Jacques Landry in 1994.

“It hasn’t totally sunk in, to be honest,” said Piccoli. “The team’s plan in the final two stages was to make it hard, attack and blow the race to pieces. And everyone did an amazing job of doing that. Jordan [Cheyne] rode out of his mind for me, and all the guys were laying it on the line for me. It was up to us to ride in the break, and we did it.”

Two other members of Team Canada finished in the top-10 overall – Cheyne in ninth and team captain Svein Tuft of Langley, BC, in tenth. Tuft was the last Canadian to win the Tour de Beauce, in 2008, and is in his final season of racing.

Overall, Canadian riders had their best results at Beauce in recent years, with wins in four of the six stages, plus five of the top-10 finishers in the overall standings coming from Canada.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Kevin Field, Manager of Team Canada. “I don’t think we could have hoped for anything better today. We knew that this last stage is one where you can really turn things over. So, we had a really simple game plan; we said ‘our game is chaos’ … just create as much chaos as we can and stack any move with our riders.  Today it just worked out; being tactical on this circuit doesn’t work, you just have to go from the start and be committed.”

Saguenay, Quebec, June 12, 2018 – In one week, the biggest event on the domestic road racing calendar will take place, with the start of the 2018 Global Relay Canadian Road Championships for Elite, Under-23, Junior and Para athletes, to be held in the Saguenay region north of Quebec City on June 21-24. The Road Championships are the most prestigious event on the domestic racing calendar, with the winners of each event awarded a maple leaf jersey to wear in competition around the world for the next year, identifying them as the Canadian champion.

“We are very happy to have the 2018 Global Relay Canadian Road Championships in Saguenay,” said Mathieu Boucher, Director of Performance Development at Cycling Canada. “The Grand Prix Cycliste Saguenay organization had to withdraw their event from the UCI calendar because of a conflict with the G7 Summit. When the 2018 Canadian Road Championships became available, it was a natural fit for us to work with their organizing committee. Known for its hospitality and majestic landscape, Saguenay has a lot to offer to the Cycling Community and they are ready to welcome the top Canadian cyclists!”

The Championships will feature some of Canada’s top professional riders, who rarely have the opportunity to race on home soil. Among the expected riders are defending time trial champions Svein Tuft, a 2008 Olympian and former holder of the Pink Jersey of the Giro d’Italia, and Karol-Ann Canuel, a three time world champion in the team time trial.

The Championships begin on Thursday, June 21st, in Saint-David-de Falardeau with the individual time trial events for all categories. The road used is located in the national park of the Mountains-Valin, and ends at the base of the largest ski center in the region, offering a beautiful scenery.

Friday and Saturday will see the Road Race titles awarded, beginning with the Para and Junior categories on Friday, followed by the Under-23 and Elite races on Saturday. The road course is a 15.1 kilometre loop in the La Baie-Port Alfred area that includes a difficult ascent, followed by a descent where participants will be able to observe the Saguenay Fjord on the high slopes of St-Jean Road before dropping to the shore.

The Championships conclude on Sunday, June 24th, in Chicoutimi, with the Criterium Championships. Criterium racing is exciting and fast paced, on a short circuit with the riders passing by every few minutes. Races last between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on the category. This will be taking place in downtown Chicoutimi in the White House Museum area. The criterium includes six turns over a distance of 1.6 kilometres.

Online registration will close on Friday, June 15, 2018, at 11:59pm (Eastern Time).  More information regarding registration can be found here.

Gatineau, Quebec, June 9, 2018 – National champions took the top two spots at the UCI sanctioned Chrono Gatineau time trial on Friday, with American champion Amber Neben (PX4) winning the 17.3 kilometre race against the clock, followed by Canadian champion Karol-Ann Canuel (Team Canada).

This time trial is different from most, with a long climb into the Gatineau Park followed by a long descent back to the finish line. Sunny but cool weather made for almost perfect conditions for the 48 starters. Defending champion Lauren Stephens (Cylance) was a scratch due to injury, meaning that a new champion was guaranteed.

Three riders went below 26 minutes in the first 43 starters. Then it was Neben’s turn, a former world champion who won Gatineau in 2016, who was the first to go below 25 minutes, with a time of 24:33.55, which would prove to be unbeatable through the remaining four riders. Canuel, who resides locally in Gatineau and won the national title on this course as well as finishing second at Gatineau last year, came closest, but was still 16.28 seconds back. American Tayler Wiles (Trek-Drops), the final starter and 2014 Gatineau champion, took third.

“I know this course really well because it is my home,” said Canuel. “I’m happy with my second place today, I don’t think I could have done better. But for sure I’m disappointed not to be on the top step of the podium. Last year, in the split I was slower climbing on the way out and then fastest on the way back, so this year I tried to go harder on the way out.”

Gatineau, Quebec, June 8, 2018 – Canadian riders took five of the top-10 spots on Thursday at the Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau road race, with Alison Jackson (Tibco SVB) finishing second and Sara Bergen (Rally Cycling) third in a sprint finish behind Lauren Hall (UnitedHealthcare) of the United States. Team Canada’s Marie-Soleil Blais was sixth and Karol-Ann Canuel seventh.

The 104 kilometre race saw the field of 78 riders climb into the Gatineau Park for two laps before descending back for five laps of a finishing circuit.

The field split on the first major climb, with 16 of the top riders breaking clear of the rest of the field.  The front group included all the major teams, and while the chasing peloton managed to close to within 30 seconds of the leaders, the race came down to the frontrunners.

In the final uphill sprint, Hall went to the front with 150 metres to go and held off the rest of the group to win by a bike length.

Kevin Field, Road Program Manager at Cycling Canada, said “I think it went really well today; this was one of the best editions I have seen. We were hoping it would be a really open race that would take advantage of the Park terrain. We would have liked to have one more rider in the front group, but I am happy with the way it played out, and it was a good day for Team Canada.”