Bergen, September 25, 2017 – The 2017 Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway, concluded on Sunday with the Elite men’s 267.5 kilometre road race.  Guillaume Boivin of Montreal, Quebec, was Canada’s top finisher in 35th place.  Peter Sagan of Slovakia took a record third consecutive title in a sprint finish with Alexander Kristoff of Norway.

The race was one of attrition, with Boivin’s team mates Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpetue, Quebec, and Antoine Duchesne of Saguenay, Quebec, working to get Boivin in position for the final critical kilometres. Boivin just missed making the key move on the last climb, coming in one minute and 20 seconds behind the lead group of 28 riders. Houle finished 81st.

“It was a pretty hard race,” admitted Boivin, “a hard tempo all day on a very technical circuit.  It was just a race of elimination.  Thanks to Antoine and Hugo, in the final three laps they helped me move forward. I wasn’t missing much to make the split of the final climb, just one percent maybe … I was right there, so it was heartbreaking not to make it.  But at the same time, it is probably one of the best world championships we have done with this group, so I think we can build some confidence and maybe next year we can be there at the end.”

“I think for the most part it went to plan,” said Kevin Field, Road Team Manager, “and I was really happy with how the guys rode.  We realized after a few races that the course is a lot more difficult than we expected coming in, and to have our three guys right up there on the last lap, that’s an impressive ride for us.  Guillaume was very, very close, and that’s a really good performance for our guys.”

Jacques Landry, Chief Technical Officer at Cycling Canada, commented, “Reflecting on the Elite men and women, we have all the bases covered, I think, to prepare our riders for Road Worlds.  The programs they have are obviously through their trade teams, but we had good team cohesiveness and tactics.  For the Junior and Under-23 categories, to really be competitive we would need to step up our programs considerably through training camps and racing in Europe.  We have some exceptions, like Simone Boilard [8th, Junior women road race], but we need to be developing more riders like Simone, and not counting on phenoms just showing up.  I do strongly believe that the track endurance program is the way to get things going to fast track these athletes into the road scene; we see it through other countries, such as Great Britain and Australia.  There’s some work to do, but we have a lot of talent and we just need to find the resources and the most efficient pathway to develop these athletes properly.”

Bergen, September 23, 2017 – Simone Boilard of Quebec City, Quebec, put in a strong performance on Friday, finishing eighth in the Junior women’s road race at the Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway.

Boilard, a first year Junior at her first world championships, rode near the front of the field for most of the 76.4 kilometre race.  After Elena Pirrone of Italy attacked to solo in for the title, Boilard was part of the nine rider chase group contesting the silver and bronze medals.

“The race went super well for me,” said Boilard.  “It was fun to race here in Norway on such a strong course with technical sections.  I had so much fun.  The Italians are so strong as a team that it was great to be able to race with them and see how they race.  I was really anxious about positioning because we were starting at the back and it was my first experience in a big peloton.  I think I did pretty well, although I maybe spent too much time at the front, but I’ve learned from this.”

In other Canadian results, Erin Attwell of Victoria, BC finished 37th, Laurie Jussaume of Contrecoeur, Quebec, was 63rd and Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple Ridge, BC, was 70th.

In the Under-23 men’s competition, Nickolas Zukowsky of Ste Agathe, Quebec, was the only Canadian finisher in the 191 kilometre race, finishing 93rd.  Benoit Cosnefroy of France won the title.

“It was an awesome race and pretty hard right from the gun,” said Zukowsky.  “After the break went it settled into a good tempo until about five laps to go when the attacks started.  I felt pretty good until about two laps to go, and then I was dropped on the second to last time up the climb.  Overall, I feel pretty good, but it was hard.  I was doing pretty well with positioning until about halfway through the race when I fell back a bit and then got caught in a crash.  But first time at Worlds as a U23, I’m pretty happy with my race.”

Bergen, September 20, 2017 – Karol-Ann Canuel of Gatineau, Quebec, was Canada’s top finisher on Tuesday at the Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway, finishing 21st in the Elite women’s time trial.  Charles-Etienne Chretien of Amos, Quebec, was the top Junior man in 28th place.

Canuel, who was on the team time trial squad that took the silver medal on Sunday, was 29th at the first intermediate time check, but improved through the middle portion of the 21.1 kilometre race.  The Canadian time trial champion finished two minutes and 18.95 seconds behind winner Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands

“It was really technical and fast, and also a lot of climbing; there was everything today,” commented Canuel.  “The most technical part was wet when I rode it, which made it even more challenging.  I didn’t have a great day out there; maybe I didn’t recover as well as I hoped after the team time trial, but that’s bike racing. Now I’m focussed on the road race for Saturday.”

In the Junior men’s race of 21.1 kilometres, Chretien was 45th after the first split, but improved 16 places over the next two time splits, eventually finishing one minute and 30.91 seconds behind winner Thomas Pidcock of Great Britain.  Canada’s second entrant, Graydon Staples of Orillia, Ontario, struggled during his race, finishing 62nd.

“I’m happy with my effort today,” said Chretien.  “We decided to go hard from the start and in the uphill for the first half, and it paid off for me. I was able to catch my breath in the descent and survive the last part of the circuit.  I was hoping for a top-30, so I’m happy with the result.  It was a beautiful course, but hard to plan when to give more and when to recover.  I can say it was the most technical circuit I have done for a time trial.”

“It was a good day for us,” said Pascal Choquette, the Junior Coach, “because both guys emptied the tank and gave what they had today.  Technically, they were good and they followed our plan on how to distribute their power. Charles-Etienne did a good effort today.”

Bergen, September 19, 2017 – Canada had two Junior women finish in the top-20 on Monday, the opening day of competition at the Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway.  Canadian national road champion Laurie Jussaume of Contrecoeur, Quebec, was the top Canadian finisher of the day, with a 19th place in the Junior women’s time trial.

Jussaume improved steadily through her 16.1 kilometre race, moving from the mid-30s at the first time split to recording the 11th fastest time for the final section.  Jussaume finished two minutes and 8.42 seconds behind winner Elena Pirrone of Italy.  Erin Attwell of Victoria, BC, finished just behind Jussaume in 20th place.

“This was a good test today on a really technical circuit,” said Pascal Choquette, coach for the Junior women.  “It was hard to negotiate some of the corners and to know exactly how deep you could dig in every section. This circuit has some features that our Junior women are not used to seeing at races in North America, like technical descents with challenging corners and cobblestone sections. The girls delivered an honest effort. We know now where they will need to pay attention during the road race, where strategy and positioning will play a big role.”

In the Under-23 men’s 37.2 kilometre race, Alec Cowan of Calgary, Alberta, was Canada’s top finisher, in 25th place.  Cowan was 49th fastest at the first split and moved up steadily all race, setting the third fastest split in the section between 25.7 kilometres and 32.8 kilometres.  Cowan finished two minutes and 58.40 seconds behind winner Mikkel Bjerg of Denmark.  Jack Burke, of Squamish, BC, top Canadian at the recent Tour of Alberta, suffered two crashes early in the race and had to switch to his road bike from his time trial bike.

“My ride went okay and I paced myself well,” said Cowan, “however, I didn’t meet my goal of a top-10 finish.  I probably should have started a little faster and kept my speed up.  You learn every race.”

“We had some misfortune for sure with Jack,” admitted Kevin Field, Road Manager at Cycling Canada.  “It was disappointing that he wasn’t able to put out the best ride he was capable of.  With Alec, he had a good pacing plan but, ultimately, he just needed to be going faster earlier in the race; he was too conservative.”