News – Page 84 – Cycling Canada Cyclisme

CYCLING CANADA ANNOUNCES 2018 NATIONAL CALENDAR

Ottawa, November 10, 2017 – Cycling Canada is pleased to release the national and international events competition schedule for 2018. Beginning in March and running through to December, the competitions calendar spans the country, with events ranging from the Atlantic provinces to the Pacific coast.

Josh Peacock, Competition Coordinator at Cycling Canada, said, “We are very excited to announce our complete 2018 National and International race calendar. Through the support of our provincial partners and event organizers – both new and returning – we are confident that this calendar will provide athletes in all disciplines every opportunity to perform at their best on Canadian soil. We would like to extend a very special thank you to all of our dedicated organizers and host communities who continue to support the sport of cycling across the Nation, and look forward to another great year of racing.”

The Mountain Bike Canada Cup series opens the calendar with what is becoming the traditional start to the XCO season at Bear Mountain in Victoria, BC, on March 31st. The Canada Cup Series concludes after six events at a new venue in Kentville, Nova Scotia, on August 5th. Under-17 Men and Women have been added as official Canada Cup Mountain Bike categories on the XCO side. Riders will be awarded the same points scale as the Juniors and will be required to race the same number of events as the Juniors to qualify for an overall Series ranking. There will be three XCO Junior Series events at Bear Mountain, Baie St. Paul, Quebec, and Trek Store in Oro Station, Ontario. The XCO National Championships will return to Canmore, Alberta, for a second year on July 21-22. And, of course, Mont-Ste-Anne will play host to the UCI World Cup for both XCO and Downhill, on August 11-12.

The Downhill Canada Cup Series has added two new events in British Columbia, at Fernie and SilverStar Resort. Fernie and Silverstar will create a July triple header western race schedule for Downhill, which will conclude with the Downhill National Championships at Panorama, BC, on July 28-29.

The national Road calendar begins at the end of May, with the Hayman Classic in Penticton, BC. Cycling Canada is working towards adding more road stage racing opportunity for Junior and Cadet riders, starting with the Hayman Classic. June is Road month, beginning with the Masters Nationals in Victoria, BC, followed by four UCI-sanctioned events in Quebec – GP Cycliste Gatineau and Chrono de Gatineau for women, and the GP Cycliste de Saguenay and Tour de Beauce for men. On June 21-24, the National Road Championships for Elite, Para and Junior riders will take place in Kamloops, BC.

Road racing continues through the summer, with the Tour de la Relève Rimouski in Quebec at the beginning of July, followed by the UCI-sanctioned Delta Road Race and Global Relay Gastown GP in BC’s Lower Mainland. Of special note is the 50th anniversary of the Tour de l’Abitibi, one of the premier stage races for Junior men in the world, which will take place on July 17-22. The Road calendar concludes in early September with three international events for pro men – the Tour of Alberta and the Quebec City and Montreal WorldTour races.

The BMX national calendar events will take place in July and August. Four Canada Cup events, all with a UCI C1 sanction, will be held in Toronto (July 7-8), Drummondville (July 14-15), Abbotsford (August 18-19), and St. Albert, Alberta (August 25-26). The National Championships will take place in Drummondville on the same weekend as the Canada Cup event. Finally, the FISE BMX Freestyle World Cup will return to Edmonton on August 26-27.

Canada’s national track program will be centered around the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, with four of five events on the calendar taking place there. In the coming months, Cycling Canada will continue to work with organizers in the east and west to finalize dates and locations for 2018 Eastern and Western Track Challenges, building on the success from 2017. These will lead into the National Championships at Milton on April 12-15 for U17, Junior and Para athletes. During that same weekend, Para athletes will participate in a C1 Challenge event open to international competitors. The Elite and Masters riders will have their Championships in Milton on September 28-30, and the UCI Track World Cup will return to Milton in December, although final dates are still to be confirmed.

Cyclo-cross (CX) continues to grow, with eight days of UCI-sanctioned races on the schedule for the Fall of 2018. UCI cyclo-cross racing will return to Toronto with two days of racing on September 1-2, with Sherbrooke following up two years of hosting the Championships with UCI events on October 20-21. Peterborough, Ontario, will host a C2 event in conjunction with the first year of a two year sanction for the Canadian Championships on November 10-11, and the Silver Goose in Midland, Ontario, finishes out the CX season on November 17-18.

Finally, the Para national schedule consists of four events, all on the UCI calendar. On April 14-15 the Para Track Nationals and UCI C1 Challenge event will take place in Milton, followed two weeks later by the Défi sportif AlterGo road event in Montreal. The Para Road Nationals will take place in Kamloops, BC, on June 21-24.

November 10, 2017/by Communications

CYCLING CANADA DISK BRAKE POLICY

Ottawa, November 7, 2017 – Effective immediately, the CC Board, in consultation with the IPC and all relevant committees & stakeholders, has approved the use of disc brakes for all road events across Canada with the exception of UCI sanctioned competitions. Further discussions will take place with the UCI with the hope to obtain an exemption to allow disc brakes for the 2018 Canadian Road Championships.

Members should recognize that the UCI is continuing the disc brake trial at the international level and may set specific standards for disc brakes in the future. Brakes not meeting these standards will then, at some point, become illegal.

Please be aware that it is also by no means guaranteed that disk brakes will be approved, and if the trial period ends without approval from the UCI, this equipment will then become illegal again and will require us to change this ruling.

Also, members should recognize that race organizers may not be able to provide the same level of neutral service for disc wheels early into this change. While this important change in the regulation is in effect immediately, the final decision to allow disc brakes for road events between now and the end of the calendar year is at the discretion of each PSO. If you have disk brakes and go to a jurisdiction that does not allow them or to a race falling under the trial requirement, you will most probably not be permitted to race. We ask that you please check with the race organizers prior to the event.

November 7, 2017/by Communications

JADEN CHIPMAN TO REPRESENT CANADA AT URBAN WORLDS

Chengdu, China, November 7, 2017 – Canada will have one athlete at the first edition of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, to be held in Chengdu, China, on November 8-12. Jaden Chipman of New Lowell, Ontario, will compete in the Men’s BMX Freestyle, an event that will be added to the Olympic program in 2020 for Toyko.

The 17 year old Chipman finished 42nd overall in the 2017 UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cup rankings. He has been riding BMX since 2012, and recently won the Pepsi Pro/Am.

“It is exciting to now have BMX Freestyle added to the Olympic program for Tokyo,” says Jacques Landry, Chief Technical Officer and Head Coach for Cycling Canada. “These up and coming Urban Worlds are important, as it will be an opportunity for cycling federations to get a better handle on this newly added Olympic cycling discipline. Even though we [Cycling Canada] have only one entry in Chengdu, it is still important to get the lay of the land. I’m expecting my visit, as a Cycling Canada official, to be an eye opener.”

November 7, 2017/by Communications

CANADA BEGINS TRACK WORLD CUP SEASON WITH SILVER MEDAL

Pruszkow, Poland, November 6, 2017 – Canada won a silver medal over the weekend at the opening round of the 2017-2018 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Pruszkow, Poland. In addition to the silver medal won in the Women’s Team Pursuit, Canadian riders had three other top-10 results.

The women’s Team Pursuit squad of Allison Beveridge, Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Kinley Gibson qualified second and won their next heat to make it to the gold medal final against top qualifier Italy. In the 4000 metre final, Canada took the lead for much of the first half of the race. Italy then took the lead as the Canadian team faded in the second half, to win by 2.028 seconds.

In other results, Beveridge and Gibson teamed up to finish fifth in the Madison, Foreman-Mackey was seventh in the Individual Pursuit and Beveridge was ninth in the Scratch Race. Maggie Coles-Lyster, who won the world title in the Points Race as a Junior earlier in the year, finished 19th in her first international Points Race competition as an Elite-aged rider.

“It was only two months ago that I raced at Junior Track Worlds,” said Coles-Lyster, “and I felt ready to make the jump. It was time to move on to this level and it was definitely a challenge. It felt surreal to be racing against multiple world champions, and just racing with them I learned so much. I just need more experience elite racing and harder training over the next couple of years to be able to get to the front and factor in the points. I feel I have a good tactical sense of the race to get in proper position, but I just need a bit more strength to be in the sprints for points.”

Craig Griffin, Women’s Track Endurance Coach at Cycling Canada, said “This first World Cup in Poland was extremely successful in terms of performances and overall objectives. The team was a blend of existing and young talent, specifically the addition of NextGen athletes Kinley Gibson and Ariane Bonhomme in the team pursuit line up, and Junior World points race champion Maggie Coles-Lyster.”

“Catching our breath to race in the middle of a hard training block wasn’t the ideal prep, so we set top-five performances in the Team Pursuit and Madison as primary goals, along with grabbing valuable UCI points and gaining experience. We checked all of these boxes and I’m very encouraged with our performances and the athlete development process we have in place. We now head back to training camp in Milton with some great momentum for our home World Cup at the end of the month.”

November 6, 2017/by Communications

CANADIAN SPORT INSTITUTE ONTARIO WELCOMES NEW LEAD, PERFORMANCE SERVICES WORKING WITH CYCLING CANADA

TORONTO, November 3, 2017 – Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) and Cycling Canada are pleased to announce the hiring of Steve Di Ciacca as Lead, Performance Services Cycling. Steve will work out of CSIO’s satellite facility and Cycling Canada’s daily training environment at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, ON.

Steve holds a Bachelors of Science and thesis based Masters in Physiotherapy from Western University. He has also completed his Advanced Diploma in Manipulative Therapy (FCAMPT), obtained his Sports Diploma with Sport Physiotherapy Canada, and is certified in Integrated Dry Needling (2015). Steve brings over 14 years of experience working as an Integrated Support Team (IST) Lead, Lead Therapist and Strength and Conditioning Coach with Rowing Canada and is currently a lecturer in the Department of Physical Therapy at Western University, instructing in musculoskeletal assessment and treatment, as well as sports physiotherapy.

In his role, Steve will be working with Cycling Canada and their coaching staff to lead and manage the IST of expert practitioners and the delivery of world-class sport science and sport medicine services to National Team athletes. Steve will also work with Cycling Canada to build and maintain yearly athlete training plans to further support athlete success on the world stage. He will also work with Cycling Canada’s Research and Innovation Manager on projects further enhance training programs and the delivery of services and support that athletes receive.

Andrea Wooles, the new Research and Innovation Manager for Cycling Canada that Steve will be working with is also his predecessor, having previously held the role of Sport Science and Sport Medicine Manager with Cycling Canada for the past 8 years. In her role, working out of Vancouver, Andrea’s main task will be to manage the collaboration with Cycling Canada’s performance partners who excel in the area of research and innovation. CSIO congratulates Andrea on her new position and looks forward to working with her on research and innovation projects to further advance Cycling Canada’s program and service delivery and overall athlete success.

QUOTES

“We are excited to welcome Steve to the CSIO team in partnership with Cycling Canada. Steve brings years of expertise to this role including his experience leading an integrated support team. His excellent team building, relationship management and leadership skills will lead to his success in this role and make him a great addition to the team. I would also like to thank Andrea for all her support and excellent work as the previous Sport Science and Sport Medicine Manager in passing the baton to Steve. We look forward to seeing the continued growth of the National Cycling Program and are pleased to be able to provide world-class services and support to the athletes and coaches as they strive to reach the podium.”

Pierre McCourt
Director, Performance Services
Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

“Cycling Canada is thrilled to have Steve come on board to manage the large portfolio that is sport science and Medicine at Cycling Canada. Working more in the Milton centralized training environment, continuing on from the great work Andrea [Wooles] has done, we are confident that Steve will continue to strengthen our integrated support system in para-cycling, track, mountain bike, road and BMX, as we start putting more and more emphasis on optimized preparation leading into Tokyo.”

Jacques Landry
Chief Technical Officer – Head Coach
Cycling Canada

November 3, 2017/by Communications

TOP-10 FINISHES FOR BEVERIDGE & DUEHRING AT LONDON SIX DAY

London, November 1, 2017 – Prior to the start of the UCI Track World Cup season, two of Canada’s Olympic bronze medalists participated in the women’s competition at the Six Day London, held at the 2012 Olympic velodrome in Great Britain. The women raced for the final three of the six days of competition, with Allison Beveridge finishing fifth overall and Jasmin Duehring seventh.

The competition consisted of three or four mass start races each day, with riders competing in Scratch, Elimination, Tempo, Points and Madison events, accumulating points for their results in each event.

“We had a few ups and downs through the three days,” admitted Beveridge, “but that’s the great thing about the Six Day London, with three or four races a night you get to go out and try a few different things. We [the women] only got to do three days, but it would be interesting to do all six days; it would be hard, but it would be fun to do all six.”

“We both used it as a learning opportunity, since we haven’t been in a bunch race situation in a long time. The more we get out there and do group racing, the more comfortable and tactically savvy we will become.”

On Friday, October 27th, Duehring won a Scratch Race, while Beveridge finished second in an Elimination Race. Neither Canadian was on the podium for the second night, but had a strong finish on Sunday, the final day, with Duehring winning another Scratch Race, and the duo combining to finish fourth in the Madison, an event that will be added to the 2020 Olympic program.

British riders swept the top four spots in the final overall standings, with Katie Archibald winning the overall title with 310 points. Beveridge finished with 202 points and Duehring had 190.

November 1, 2017/by Communications

CYCLING CANADA HOSTS ANNUAL CONFERENCE & GALA AT BEAR MOUNTAIN

Victoria, October 31, 2017 – On October 20th and 21st, Cycling Canada brought together provincial associations, partners, athletes and members of the local cycling community at the Westin Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, BC, for their Annual Conference & inaugural Partner Summit.

The conference opened on Friday with a Forum bringing together the Board and staff of Cycling Canada with their Provincial Sports Organization (PSO) counterparts, as well as national partners and sponsors, including Lexus, Garneau, 4iiii, Cafe Barista, Bear Mountain, Swagman, STAC Zero, Own the Podium, B2ten, the COC, PHE Canada and the Global Relay Bridge The Gap Fund.

On Friday evening, at the President’s Reception, Cycling Canada presented their awards for the top events of the year, as well as recognition for volunteer contribution, officials and athletic performances. [Note: a full list of awards can be found below]

In addition, new members joined a number of the standing committees that oversee High Performance, Events and other Committees for the Association. Retired Olympic athlete Monique Sullivan joined the High Performance Committee, while Simon Williams joined the Events Committee. New Cycling Canada Board member Pierre Laflamme will serve on the Finance and Audit Committee.

“Our operation committees are a crucial part of the future success of Cycling Canada,” stated Pierre Lafontaine, CEO of Cycling Canada. “We are truly honored to have such a great group of committee members for the next year and we are looking forward to working with them to improve and to help move the sport to its rightful place in the world.”

Further workshops took place on Saturday, before the conference concluded with a gala dinner and fundraiser at Bear Mountain Resort. A capacity crowd came out to mingle with Canadian cycling legends and current members of Canada’s national road team, as well as fundraise for the national team program in a silent auction that raised over $15,000.

“This year we really elevated our Annual Conference with the addition of a Partner Summit, as well as a retreat/training camp for a group of Canada’s top road athletes,” said Matthew Jeffries, Director of Marketing for Cycling Canada. “Bringing these key stakeholders together with our PSOs, Board/Staff and the Victoria cycling community provided fantastic opportunities for collaboration and relationship building. We’re grateful to all those who made the trip and we look forward to bringing these groups together again at our next Summit in the fall of 2018.”
Cycling Canada Awards

Event/Organizer of the Year:
• Road – Tour of Alberta – Alberta Peloton Association
• Mountain Bike – Canadian XCO Championships – Alberta Nationals MTB Race Association
• BMX – Canadian Championships & Canada Cup 7 – Calgary BMX
• Paracycling- Global Relay Canadian Road Championships – Centre National Cyclisme Bromont, QC
• Cyclo-cross – Canadian Championships – Club Cycliste Sherbrooke, QC
• Track – Canadian Championships (Elite/Master) – Cycling Canada

National Commissaire of the Year 2017: Marko Rosic / BC

International Commissaire of the Year 2017: Wayne Pomario / BC

Recognition Award for Coach of the Year:
• Road – Christine Gillard / QC
• MTB – Joel Harwood / BC
• BMX – Adam Muys / BC
• Cyclo-cross – David Gagnon / QC
• Track – Barry Lyster / BC

Torchy Peden Award (awarded by the Board of Directors): Manitoba; Canada Summer Games

Russ Copeland Award: Holden Jones (MTB); third place finish in the Junior Men’s XCO at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships

President’s Trophy: Tristen Chernove (Para); World Champion in Para-Cycling Individual Pursuit, Kilometer Time Trial, Individual Time Trial and Road Race

Builder of the Year (awarded by Inter-provincial Council): Alex Man (Manitoba), designer and builder of Bison Butte, the mountain bike course of the 2017 Canada Summer Games

Service Pins
20 years:
• Louis Barbeau / QC – High Performance Committee
• Wayne Pomario / BC – Officials Committee

10 years:
• Kevin Baldwin / NL – Board of Directors
• Mike Connolly / PEI – Provincial Association

5 years:
• Bruno Vachon / QC – Events Committee

October 31, 2017/by Communications

FERRIER-BRUNEAU AND VAN DEN HAM WIN NATIONAL CYCLO-CROSS TITLES

Sherbrooke, October 30, 2017 – The final Canadian championships of 2017 took place on Saturday in Sherbrooke, Quebec, when the Cyclo-cross Championships awarded maple leaf jerseys to Junior, Under-23, Elite and Masters athletes from across Canada.

Under brilliant blue skies and sun, nearly 400 riders competed for national titles. After a cold start to the day, the 3.5 kilometre course gradually warmed, with afternoon races taking place under perfect conditions.

Tyler Clark (KMS Cycling-Killington Mountain) of Ontario dominated the Junior Men’s race, leading from start to finish, to cross the finish line 31 seconds ahead of Colton Woods (Trek Store CC) of Ontario, with local Sherbrooke rider William Cote (Dalbix Sherbrooke) winning the bronze.

Ruby West (Cannondale Cyclocrossworld.Com Devo Team) of Ontario won the Under-23 women’s race in similar solo fashion, 38 seconds in front of Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (Club Cycliste De Sherbrooke). In the men’s Under-23 race, it was a race-long battle between Quebec’s Raphael Auclair (Pivot Cycles – OTE) and Brody Sanderson (Centurion Nextwave) of Ontario. It wasn’t until the final lap that Auclair was able to gap his rival on one of the straightaways to win by a slim eight seconds.

The Elite women’s race saw an upset, with Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (SAS Macogep Aquisio) beating defending champion Maghalie Rochette (Clif Pro Team). Rochette led for much of the race, opening a gap on her rival mid-race. However, Ferrier-Bruneau fought back and, with a lap and a half to go, counter-attacked. Rochette was unable to respond, and Ferrier-Bruneau rode away to win by 38 seconds. Mical Dyck (Naked Factory Racing) of B.C. took the bronze medal.

“Maghalie is a really good rider,” said Ferrier-Bruneau, “but I have had some better results than her in the North American World Cups, so I knew I could do well. Maghalie was better on the technical sections and I lost a bit of time in a corner, but I stayed focussed and came back on the climb, and was able to get away. It’s my first victory of the year in cyclo-cross, which is really nice.”

The Elite men’s race was wide open, after the retirement of 2016 champion Jeremy Martin. Alberta’s Mark McConnell (Hot Sauce Cycling) went to the front on the opening lap, joined by multi-time national champion Geoff Kabush (Scott Sports – Maxxis) and Rio Olympian Raphael Gagne (Cannondale 3Rox Racing). However, Michael van den Ham (Garneau – Easton p/b Transitions Lifecare) moved up quickly to join the leaders. Gagne faded and Kabush couldn’t manage the pace of the other two. When van den Ham attacked at the midpoint in the race it proved to be the decisive move, and the B.C. rider rode away to take his first Elite title. Kabush put on a late surge to take second ahead of McConnell.

“It feels amazing,” said van den Ham. “I’ve gone into the last three Nationals ranked Number One, so, to be honest, this feels like a weight off my back. It feels good to finally get the maple leaf jersey; I’ve been dreaming about it for a long time. I didn’t have a great start, so I decided to sit tight for a lap or two and follow the front group. I could see Mark [McConnell] was starting to make mistakes, and I could ride the run up, that was my secret weapon. I got five seconds and then just rode it steady.”

October 30, 2017/by Communications

CANADA ANNOUNCES TEAM FOR TRACK WORLD CUP #1

Pruszków, Poland, October 27, 2017 – Canada is sending a strong women’s squad to the opening round of the 2017-18 Track World Cup in Pruszkow, Poland, as the national team begins its build-up to the Milton World Cup and the world championships. Two riders will also attend the Six Day London competition prior to the World Cup.

On Oct. 27-29, Rio Olympic bronze medalists Jasmin Duehring and Allison Beveridge will participate in the mass start events at the six-day, held on the 2012 Olympic velodrome at the Lee Valley Velopark. Duehring and Beveridge will compete in the Scratch Race, Elimination, Tempo, Points Race and Madison.

“Our focus for the upcoming international events is to give some of our women track endurance riders opportunities to gain experience in international competition,” said Jacques Landry, Chief Technical Officer and Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “We will also be attempting to pick up as many points as possible in some individual events where our international ranking has dipped slightly. In both the Six Day London events and the Poland World Cup, we will have a mixed bag of seasoned international performing riders like Jasmin and Allison, as well as some riders newly graduated into the Olympic Performance Pool, such as Kinley Gibson and Ariane Bonhomme.”

Following the six-day, Beveridge will join Annie Foreman-Mackey, Ariane Bonhomme, Kinley Gibson and Maggie Coles-Lyster in in Pruszkow, Poland, for Round 1 of the UCI Track World Cup, on Nov. 4-5. Beveridge and Foreman-Mackey are members of Canada’s elite women’s track endurance program, while Gibson and Bonhomme have moved up from the NextGen program. Coles-Lyster has just moved into the elite ranks after becoming the Junior Points Race world champion earlier this year.

Coles-Lyster will act as an alternate to the other four riders for the Team Pursuit, as well as competing in the Points Race. Beveridge will compete in the Scratch Race and the Madison with Gibson, while Foreman-Mackey will race in the Individual Pursuit.

“As we have one more season before the Olympic qualification period starts, we want to be able to fire on all cylinders come October 2018, so it is important to continue giving development opportunities this season to riders that we feel are up for it,” said Landry.

Allison Beveridge – Calgary, AB [London & Pruszkow]
Ariane Bonhomme – Gatineau, QC [Pruszkow]
Jasmin Duehring – Vancouver, BC [London]
Annie Foreman-Mackey – Kingston, ON [Pruszkow]
Kinley Gibson – Edmonton, AB [Pruszkow]
Maggie Coles-Lyster – Maple Ridge, BC [Pruszkow]

October 27, 2017/by Communications

CYCLING CANADA BMX NEXTGEN PROGRAM APPLICATION NOW OPEN

Ottawa, October 26, 2017 – The Cycling Canada BMX NextGen Program is now accepting athlete applications for the 2018 season. This program is focused on providing targeted athletes with an elevated level of support to work towards international podium performances and transition into the elite ranks.

Selected athletes will receive a world class Daily Training Environment with personalized and periodized coaching from the NextGen coaches in either Abbotsford or Toronto. Integrated support services such as nutrition, mental performance, physiology and strength & conditioning will be available for athletes in the program.

“2016 was the birth of the NextGen Program with a full roll out in 2017, we did see some successes and challenges but overall the athletes have developed in a number of areas due to consistent training and an environment that is competitive and at the same time encourages development. For these riders the focus is long term with a short term focus on national and international opportunities. Having the NextGen athletes train with the National Team riders is something that will prove to be a game changer in the coming years,” says coach Brendan Arnold.

“2018 will be the second full season for the BMX NextGen program, we learned a lot from the first season and were able to make some changes to better help the athletes,” added coach Adam Muys. “Having a program to help our development athletes learn to be elite athletes by providing them with World Class training and a race plans to match their development pathway is going to ensure long term success.”

Applications can be completed online here.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 17:00 PDT, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, 2017.

Any questions can be directed to NextGen Coach Adam Muys at adam.muys@cyclingcanada.ca or Brendan Arnold at brendan.arnold@cyclingcanada.ca.

October 26, 2017/by Communications