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 18, 2017 – Canadian riders got off to a good start on Sunday, the opening day of the Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway.  Leah Kirchmann was on the gold medal winning Sunweb squad for the women’s team time trial, while Karol-Ann Canuel won silver with the Boels Dolmans team.  In other Canadian results, Alison Jackson was eighth with BePink, and Svein Tuft was fifth in the men’s race with Orica-Scott.

The team time trial is the only trade team event at the Worlds, and both women’s and men’s teams raced 42.5 kilometres.  The course was technical and demanding, with narrow, twisty roads, cobblestone sections, fast descents and one extended climb.

Team Sunweb seemed to get stronger through the race, while other teams faltered.  Cervelo-Bigla set the early fast splits, to be overtaken by the final starting team – Boels Dolmans, the defending three time champions.  However, Sunweb came to the forefront in the final kilometres to win with a time of 55:41.63, 12.43 seconds faster than Boels Dolmans, with Cervelo-Bigla at 28.03 seconds.

“For sure, coming into this Boels was the favourite,” agreed Kirchmann.  “We knew we could fight for a podium spot if we rode a really good race, but we didn’t expect to win.  It’s pretty cool to be a world champion.  Our strategy was just to pace the whole race; not go too crazy right off the start and end up losing time at the end.  We knew that the times were close from communications we were getting, but in the end you just have to ride your own race.”

Montreal, September 12, 2017 – Antoine Duchesne of Team Canada was the top Canadian rider on Sunday at the GP Cycliste de Montreal WorldTour race, finishing 42nd in a chase group that also included Guillaume Boivin (Israel Cycling Academy).  Italy’s Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) won the 206 kilometre race from a six rider breakaway group.

The race, which featured 17 laps of the classic Mont Royal circuit through the center of Montreal, saw two Canadian riders attack from the gun.  Canadian road champion Matteo Dal-Cin (Team Canada) and Benjamin Perry (Israel Cycling Academy) quickly opened a two minute gap, which fluctuated to as much as five and a half minutes over the next seven laps before an attack from the peloton by world champion and GP Cycliste de Quebec winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) caused a surge which brought the duo back after 120 kilometres.  Both Duchesne and Boivin were involved in attacks, but each was neutralized, with no Canadians making the final break of six.  In addition to Duchesne’s 42nd, Boivin was 51st, and Team Canada riders Jack Burke and Bruno Langlois were 90th and 97th, respectively.

Team Canada manager Kevin field commented, “I’m really happy with the collaboration in the field today and with the way the guys rode. I think Antoine and Guillaume did a great job at the front. It was definitely one of the harder Montréal races I’ve seen, but overall it was a great preparation for our Under-23 men before Road Worlds next week.”