Apeldoorn, Netherlands, March 1, 2018 – Team Canada had a good start to the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, on Wednesday, with both the Women’s and Men’s Team Pursuit squads qualifying in the top eight countries for the next round of competition. Jasmin Duehring also competed in the women’s Scratch Race, finishing seventh.

The women’s Team Pursuit squad of Allison Beveridge, Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Steph Roorda qualified fifth with a time of four minutes and 24.071 seconds. While the time was fast enough to put them through to the next round of competition, finishing outside of the top four means that the best they can hope for is bronze. The United States qualified first with a time of four minutes and 18.836 seconds.

“It wasn’t a great ride, but not a bad ride,” admitted Craig Griffin, Women’s Track Endurance Coach. “They put in a good 2500 metres, which went to plan. We just lost Ariane a bit earlier than we thought, and then we had to go into conservation mode to get the group home. I know we’ll do better tomorrow; the girls are fired up and ready to give it a go. So, fingers crossed that we can get into the top four and have a run at a medal.”

In the men’s Team Pursuit, Canada was the second team to ride, setting a strong time that was only 0.584 seconds over four minutes. The time held up until the ninth team – former world champions Denmark – became the first to go under four minutes, and Canada just squeaked into the top-8 teams that moved onto the next round of competition. In the Round 1 competition later in the evening Canada went up against multi-time Olympic and world championship medalists New Zealand and, despite starting strongly, failed to advance to the medal round, finishing eighth overall.

“I think they did pretty well,” said Jono Hailstone, Men’s Endurance Coach. “It was definitely a PB [personal best] for them as a one team on the track situation. I think it’s a really good sign that going into Olympic qualifying we are ranked in the top-8 in the world; it’s a pretty good starting point. We have a unique opportunity that comes once a year to see how you stack up against the rest of the world. For the second race, we just decided to go out there and attack it, and see where that put us.”

In the women’s Scratch Race, Duehring rode conservatively until the final eight laps, when she began to move up aggressively through the field. Unfortunately, she ran out of laps before she could make it to the leaders.

“It was a hard Scratch Race, and unfolded pretty much as I expected it would,” said Duehring. “I just missed the counter [attack] and waited that second too long and got caught behind some gaps. I’m really frustrated with my performance and it feels like a missed opportunity tonight.”

Franck Durivaux joined Cycling Canada six months ago as an assistant coach for the Sprint program and will now lead the Canadian sprint team as the head coach into the 2018 UCI Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands,  next week.

Durivaux comes to the Canadian program from France, where he was a member of their powerful track program in the early 2000s, before turning to coaching. As a member of the French team he won a Team Sprint gold medal at a Track World Cup in 2002. As a coach with France, his riders swept the men’s sprint events (Team Sprint, Keirin, Sprint and Kilo) at the world championships in France, in 2015.

“I was with the French national team between 2001 and 2006 before becoming a coach. I started as assistant coach with the [French] national team before becoming head sprint coach in 2014, as we began the qualification process for Rio. In 2016 I made a transition to become development coach, although I was still working with Francois Pervis [6x world champion and Olympic bronze medalist].”

“I came to Canada in August of 2017 as the Assistant Coach, and my first major project was Junior Track Worlds. When we came back from that project I learned that Erin [Hartwell, national sprint head coach at the time] had left for Trinidad and I became the head coach.”

Durivaux admits that the Canadian sprint program is in its early stages, and has suffered recent setbacks with retirements and crashes, but is optimistic about the future.

“When I arrived we had a good group of athletes but then we had a lot of crashes, so we had to start working for the next season and not the current one for a lot of the athletes. For the current season, we had to work for Hugo [Barrette], Amelia [Walsh] and Stefan [Ritter]. Stefan had a bad crash in June, so we needed a special preparation program for him. But he came back very quick and by the end of November he was back to the same form he had in June before the crash, so I decided to put him in competition. We really need points for next season and right now we only have one rider, Hugo. Stefan is a really good guy, really coachable and it’s really nice to work with him.”

“With Hugo, it’s more that he knows exactly what he wants as he is already a really top level sprinter. I think we are on the same page for what we need at the top level and he knows what he is able to do. But, he’s a sprinter … he can change every day!”

“We have a lot of young and newer riders who are new in the program, so we need to start at the beginning. They are really new on the bike. It is a big difference from France, because, for example, a guy like Bauge or Pervis have been on the bike since 2001, and were already at the Olympics by 2004. Amelia [Walsh] is a little different because she comes from BMX, but that is not really the same sport, the same mentality. Sprint is more about strength with a lot of repetitions every day; so quite different and probably less fun.”

“This means that I can begin with the basics, so if we need to change something we can do it more easily with this group. They have already had very good improvement since September at the national championships. Since then they have had a lot of competition at the World Cup and in Europe, and they are all doing PBs [personal bests]. It’s a new group but we can do a lot of things.”

Unlike previous years, when Canada could field a women’s sprint team in all events, this Worlds will see only one woman sprinter – Amelia Walsh. 

“Because of the points situation, the only woman who can go to Worlds is Amelia. She had some good results at earlier World Cups and Kate’s [O’Brien] points from last year. So the goal now is to prepare Amelia for the world championships. We don’t have the points for the Keirin and missed the 500m [time trial] by five points, so she will only do the Sprint. But it could be a good thing to just focus on the one event. After that she will do all three events at the Commonwealth Games. For Amelia, it’s her first season getting a lot of experience. Now we are working on the tactical side of things, and then after the Commonwealth Games we will work on the physical side to prepare for the next season and the Olympic qualification period.”

On the men’s side, both Hugo Barrette and Stefan Ritter will attend Worlds, but there will be no Team Sprint squad.

“We are still working on the Team Sprint, but first of all I think we need to work on developing the individual guys before having a better Team Sprint. Every guy should be faster on the 200 metres, on the Kilo before we can be better for the Team Sprint. We work on the Team Sprint in training; they start together and work together on the exchanges, but the first thing is to develop the individual physical abilities before we can have a better Team Sprint.”

“Stefan and Hugo will be at the world championships; Stefan will be in the Kilo and the Sprint, and Hugo in the Sprint and the Keirin. We are not competitive for the Team Sprint at this time. But we will have a team in that for the Commonwealth Games, and I think we will be ready for the Olympic qualification period when it starts.”

The Olympic qualification looms over every decision as the next two seasons begin, with every country in a battle to secure the points necessary for a high enough nation ranking that will secure Olympic spots in each event for 2020.

“We don’t know yet exactly what the criteria will be for Olympic qualification, but for Rio it was easier to qualify through the Team Sprint, because when you qualified for that you automatically had two spots for the individual events. My strategy will be to see if the team has qualified after the first year [through the Team Sprint], and if not then we will change to focus on the individual riders and events. We have a very young group, and the problem is that there is a very competitive field in Team Sprint, with a lot of very fast teams. The team has made very big improvements, so we will try for the first year, but if it is not possible, then we will adapt.”

Ottawa, ON, February 21, 2018 – A team of 14 athletes will represent Canada at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, on February 28th to March 4th. The team will include seven women and seven men, who will compete in both Endurance and Sprint events.

“This Track Worlds should be interesting, as we are coming in with some new coaches heading both the men’s track endurance program and the sprint program,” said Jacques Landry, Chief Technical Officer and Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “The changes that have been made to these programs in recent months should yield some good performances.”

The Canadian women’s endurance team has been consistently ranked among the best in the world over the past two Olympic cycles, and the six riders who will represent Canada in Apeldoorn promise to continue that tradition. The team is led by two Olympic bronze medalists; Allison Beveridge of Calgary and Jasmin Duehring of Vancouver. In addition to the Team Pursuit, riders will compete in a number of other events, including the Madison, Points Race and Omnium. Individual assignments will be decided closer to the event.

“Cycling Canada is continuing its strategy of investing in new talent with its women’s track endurance line up for the 2018 Track World Championships,” said Craig Griffin, Women’s Track Endurance Coach. “We have a balanced mix of youth and experience that has the potential to win a couple of medals in Apeldoorn. They’ve all been 100% committed to the training process these last few months and are tracking well, so I’m quite optimistic.”

The men’s track endurance squad, while not as accomplished as the women’s, has shown remarkable growth over the past two seasons, including a World Cup victory. All five athletes are selected for the Team Pursuit, with Derek Gee of Ottawa and Jay Lamoureux of Victoria also competing in the Individual Pursuit.

The Sprint program, despite losing athletes to retirement and injury over the past season, has qualified three riders for the world championships, all of whom have stood on the podium at international events. Amelia Walsh of Ayr, Ontario, is the lone woman to qualify for Canada and will compete in the Sprint. Hugo Barrette of Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, a World Cup silver medalist, will compete in the men’s Sprint and Keirin, while Stefan Ritter of Edmonton will compete in the Sprint and the 1000 metre Time Trial.  Ritter is a former Junior world champion in the 1000m, and the current Junior world record holder for that event.

“Final preparations for the world championships are well underway, and the sprinters are in great shape and more determined than ever,” said Franck Durivaux, who joined Cycling Canada as the national sprint coach last fall. “We still have certain details to work on, but I trust that they will give their very best during this competition. This will be my first Worlds representing Canada and I couldn’t be more proud.”

“With these Worlds being more than two years out from the Tokyo Games, and not counting for qualification for the Games, we are still using this opportunity to integrate newer riders into the lineups, in order to have these athletes gain more experience at the highest level,” explained Landry. “This holds true with Michael Foley coming into the fold on the men’s Team Pursuit side, as well as Ariane Bonhomme and Kinley Gibson for the women’s Team Pursuit. All have already raced World Cups, but Worlds is another step up from previous experiences.”

Women’s Endurance (events to be confirmed)
Allison Beveridge – Calgary, Alberta
Ariane Bonhomme – Gatineau, Quebec
Jasmin Duehring – Vancouver, BC
Annie Foreman-Mackey – Kingston, Ontario
Kinley Gibson – Edmonton, Alberta
Steph Roorda – Vancouver, BC

Men’s Endurance
Aidan Caves – Vancouver, BC [Team Pursuit]
Michael Foley – Milton, Ontario [Team Pursuit]
Derek Gee – Ottawa, Ontario [Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit]
Adam Jamieson – Barrie, Ontario [Team Pursuit]
Jay Lamoureux – Victoria, BC [Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit]

Sprint
Hugo Barrette – Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec [Sprint, Keirin]
Stefan Ritter – Edmonton, Alberta [Sprint, 1000m TT])
Amelia Walsh – Ayr, Ontario [Sprint]

Milton, ON, February 13, 2018 – Cycling Canada is pleased to announce that the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup will be returning to Milton’s Mattamy National Cycling Centre for a second consecutive year from October 26-28, 2018. Cycling Canada was selected by the International Cycling Union (UCI) to host three rounds of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup, culminating with the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in 2020.

The Track World Cup is the highest international level of track cycling competition and is a critical component of the qualification process for the Olympic Games and for the UCI World Championships. The Milton World Cup will be the second qualifying competition of the year and will feature 5 sessions of racing over three days.

“We are excited to work with the UCI and our multiple partners to build on last year’s success. Hosting the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup is a great opportunity for us to expose more people to the sport of cycling and we hope that the good performances of the Canadian National Team will inspire more people to get active and to get on a bike,” commented Pierre Lafontaine, CEO of Cycling Canada.

The Mattamy National Cycling Centre, built to host the track events at the 2015 Pan Am Games, is a Category 1 homologated velodrome, and one of only two velodromes in North America that meets the requirements to host World Cup-level competitions.

Mathieu Boucher, Performance Development Director at Cycling Canada, said “We had a great first edition in 2017 and we are working on making the experience even better for participants and spectators alike. We saw some great performances from the Canadian team last year and we are excited to see our athletes perform at home in this state-of-the-art facility once again.”

Event details and ticket information will be announced later this year. For more information about Cycling Canada events, visit cyclingcanada.ca.

Ottawa, ON, January 26, 2018 – Four members of Canada’s women’s track endurance program will compete at the Berlin and Copenhagen 6 Day races, between January 25th and February 4th, as part of their preparation for the UCI Track Cycling World Championships at the end of February.

Craig Griffin, Women’s Track Endurance Coach for Cycling Canada, explained “The Berlin and Copenhagen 6 Days provide condensed racing opportunities for the ladies that will develop and sharpen them both tactically and technically. They’re really excited to compete in the 6 Day atmosphere of lights, big crowds and lots of energy before joining Team Canada’s final prep camp in Milton for the World Championships.”

Allison Beveridge of Calgary and Jasmin Duehring of Vancouver will compete at both events, beginning in Berlin, with Steph Roorda of Vancouver and Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple Ridge joining them for the Copenhagen event.

“I am extremely excited to race my first Six Day,” said Coles-Lyster. “I have always been someone to do every event at National Championships, and I am really looking forward to doing a similarly taxing event with bunch race after bunch race at a high level. The timing of this event is great, because the weekend before I will be competing at the Belgian International track meet. I am an athlete that thrives on being pushed and having to raise the bar even higher, so my goals throughout these next two weeks will be to continue building my bunch race skills and getting better with each race.”