CANADIAN PARA-CYCLING TEAM HEADS TO EUROPE FOR UCI WORLD CUP EVENTS
Canada sends large team with hopes to medal and cumulate UCI points towards Rio 2016 Paralympic Games
(Ottawa, ON – June 3, 2015) The Canadian Para-Cycling Team is ready for another important road season ahead as the team attempts to optimize its quotas for the 2016 Paralympic Games.
The team comprised of 20 athletes will travel to Europe for two UCI World Cup events, in Maniago, Italy June 5-7 and Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland June 13-16. Ross Wilson will join the team for the second World Cup in Switzerland.
The team will be led by coaches Eric van den Eynde and Sebastien Travers, and will attempt to reach the podium as well as posting top-10 results.
Multiple World Champion and Paralympic medallist Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, ON will race with a new pilot this season in seasoned veteran Joanie Caron of Rimouski, QC. The duo have been training together this off-season, and will be looking to test their skills against other international women tandems.
Shelley Gautier of Toronto, ON will be back in action, hoping to keep her undefeated string intact. Gautier has won every international event in which she entered since taking on competitive cycling in 2010 after a mountain bike accident in 2001.
In July, Canadian athletes will be travelling to the 2015 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Nottwil, SUI, July 29-August 2. The team will return home after the Worlds to compete at the Toronto 2015 Parapan-American Games. The UCI Road World Cup Finals are planned in South Africa September 11-13.
TEAM CANADA – UCI PARA-CYCLING WORLD CUP #1 AND #2
- Marie-Ève CROTEAU (Québec, QC)
- Shelley GAUTIER (Toronto, ON)
- Marie-Claude MOLNAR (St. Hubert, QC)
- Nicole CLERMONT (St. Denis de Brompton, QC)
- Jaye MILLEY (Calgary, AB)
- Ross WILSON (Edmonton, AB)*
- Aroussen LAFLAMME (pilot) (St Augustin de Desmaures, QC)
- Alexandre CARRIER (Bromont, QC)
- Alexandre CLOUTIER (Pilot) (St Antoine de Tilly, QC)
- Daniel CHALIFOUR (Mont-Laurier, QC)
- Robert LABBE (Québec, QC)
- Charles MOREAU (Trois-Rivières, QC)
- Mark LEDO (Maple, ON)
- Mike SAMETZ (Calgary, AB)
- Louis-Albert CORRIVEAU (Ste-Claire, QC)
- Robbi WELDON (Thunder Bay, ON)
- Joanie CARON (Pilot) (Rimouski, QC)
- Shawna RYAN (Saskatoon, SK)
- Audrey LEMIEUX (pilot) (Montreal, QC)
- Mathieu CROTEAU-DAIGLE (Thetford Mines, QC)
- Pierre-Olivier BOILY (Pilot) (Sherbrooke, QC)
