GLASGOW, Nov.1, 2016. – Cycling Canada is pleased to announce the team of athletes who will represent Canada at the two opening rounds of the Track Cycling World Cup.

The Track World Cup series will begin in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 4-6, followed a week later by the second round in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Canada will send a team of five riders that will compete in the men’s endurance events at both World Cups.

At both events, Canada will compete in the Team Pursuit and Points Race. In Glasgow, Jay Lamoureux will also be entered in the Individual Pursuit, while in Apeldoorn, Aidan Caves will compete in the Omnium (subject to UCI approval).

“In starting our Tokyo [Olympic] quad we want to ensure that some of our athletes are getting much needed rest after a tiring Rio campaign,” explains Jacques Landry, Director of High Performance at Cycling Canada. “Though we are resting some of our athletes, we also have a pool of athletes that are ready to fire on all cylinders at these two first World Cups. With this in mind, our men’s track endurance athletes are ready to start off this track season by setting the tone in the first two World Cups at Glasgow and Apeldoorn.”

Aidan Caves – Vancouver, BC [Team Pursuit, Omnium (Apeldoorn)]
Adam Jamieson – Barrie, ON [Team Pursuit, Points Race]
Jay Lamoureux – Victoria, BC [Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit (Glasgow)]
Bayley Simpson – Lindsay, ON [Team Pursuit (Reserve)]
Ed Veal – Toronto, ON [Team Pursuit]

Aguascalientes, MEX, Oct. 10, 2016 – Canada finished just outside the medals on Sunday, the final day of competition at the Pan Am Track Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico.  Kinley Gibson of Edmonton was the top Canadian rider of the day, finishing fourth overall in the Women’s Omnium.

Gibson went into the final Points Race sitting third overall, just four points in front of Yeny Colmenares of Colombia.  Colmenares had a very strong Points Race, finishing second, while Gibson could only manage fourth, putting her six points behind the Colombian in the final overall standings, with 193 points.  Marlies Mejias of Cuba dominated the competition, finishing with 231 points for the gold medal.

Cameron Jennings, the Women’s Endurance coach for the project, said “on the women’s side we came down with a development squad, plus Jasmin Glaesser from the Elite team.  For the girls to do a 4:21 in the Team Pursuit [where they won gold] is a very encouraging sign, and for Jasmin and Ariane [Bonhomme] to both podium in the Points Race, and Jasmin in the Individual Pursuit also … I think it’s been a great Pan Am Championships and is very promising for the next generation of riders.”

In the Men’s Keirin, both Stefan Ritter of Edmonton and Joel Archambault of Sainte-Christine, Quebec, made it through the preliminary rounds to the final six that would race for the medals.  However, for both riders it was their first time competing at this level, and more experienced riders took the medals, with Ritter finishing fifth and Archambault sixth.

“The sprint team continued to perform above expectations,” said Alex Ongaro, Sprint coach of the project.  “Both Stefan and Joel won their respective heats in the Keirin to make it to the final.  That didn’t go quite as well as planned, but they both performed well and gained experience for the future.  There were a lot of personal bests and everyone performed very well on all five days.  Our three [sprint] riders excelled in everything they did.”

Canada had a very strong Championships, with a total of nine medals, including three golds, to finish third in the medal standings.  Additionally, Stefan Ritter’s two Junior world records in the 1000m and 200m time trials highlight the effort that Cycling Canada is putting into its Milton-based track programs. The Mattamy National Cycling Centre continues to play an unprecedented and foundational role in Canada’s continued rise up the ranks in international track cycling. The facility has been critical to recent growth and now serves as a beacon for athletes looking to fulfill their Olympic Dreams.

Canadian Sprint coach Erin Hartwell pointed out, “Stefan’s recent successes in winning the Junior world championship back in July and now setting two world records in Mexico is testament to the game-changing expectations of Cycling Canada since the Pan Am Games last summer. That said, I cannot be more proud of Stefan for the work and dedication that he’s put in to get to this point; he’s exceeded expectations! These results show our programs are positioned to develop athletes like Stefan, Hugo Barrette, Kate O’Brien, Monique Sullivan, and others to a world-class standard through our system – not in spite of it!”

Aguascalientes, MEX, Oct. 8, 2016 – Canada added a sixth medal to its tally on Friday, Day 3 of the Pan Am Track Championships, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, when Jay Lamoureux (Victoria, BC) won the silver medal in the Men’s Individual Pursuit.  Stefan Ritter of Edmonton set his second Junior world record of the event in the Men’s Sprint qualifying.  The Pan Am Championships are the continental championships, and provide valuable points for obtaining starting positions at the world championships.

Lamoureux qualified first with the fastest time of the day, and rode the gold medal final against Eduardo Estrada of Colombia.  In the final, Lamoureux’s time of four minutes and 16.950 seconds was 0.783 seconds behind Estrada.  Adam Jamieson (Barrie, ON) finished tenth in 4:26.157.

In Men’s Sprint qualifying, Ritter finished fifth overall, with a time of 9.738 seconds for the Flying 200 metre Time Trial, a new Junior world record, to go with the 1000 metre world record he set a day earlier.  Joel Archambault (Sainte-Christine, QC) qualified eighth and Patrice Pivin (Windsor, QC) was 16th.  Pivin was knocked out of competition in the following round, while Ritter and Archambault have moved on to quarterfinal action for Saturday.

“It’s definitely very exciting and a huge honour to break the world record,” said Ritter.  “During the windup for the 200 my legs felt a little flat, but coming down the banking I felt really good.  It just goes to show that your perception doesn’t always let you know how good you are feeling.  Tomorrow’s the quarterfinals, and hopefully the semi’s and then the final.”

After the first three events of the Men’s Omnium, Canadian national champion Aidan Caves (Vancouver, BC) leads with a perfect record of three wins in the Scratch Race, Individual Pursuit and Elimination.  Caves leads the standings going into Saturday’s final three events with 120 points, followed by Facundo Olaf Crisafulli of Argentina and Julio Padilla of Guatemala, both at 106 points.

“The goal today was three top rides and that’s what I came away with,” said Caves.  “Not a bad start to the Omnium, for sure.”

Two Canadians also raced in the Points Race, with Jamieson finishing eighth and Ed Veal (Queensville, ON) tenth.

The Pan Am Championships continue through Sunday.

Aguascalientes, MEX, Oct. 6, 2016 – Canada has had a strong start to the 2016 Pan Am Track Championships, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, winning three medals on Wednesday, the opening day of competition, and setting a new Canadian record.  The Pan Am Championships are the continental championships, and provide valuable points for obtaining starting positions at the world championships.

In the Women’s Individual Pursuit, two-time Olympic bronze medalist Jasmin Glaesser (Coquitlam, BC) finished third, with a time of three minutes and 30.942 seconds.  Kelly Catlin of the United States won the gold medal, 6.925 seconds ahead of Glaesser.  Ariane Bonhomme (Gatineau, QC) was seventh.

Canada sent a development squad for the Men’s sprint events, and they began the Championships with a third place finish in the Team Sprint, with a time of 44.299 seconds.  The Canadian team consisted of Junior world champion Stefan Ritter (Edmonton, AB), Joel Archambault (Sainte-Christine, QC) and Patrice Pivin (Windsor, QC).  Colombia won with a time of 42.772 seconds.

Canada’s third medal of the day went to the Men’s Team Pursuit squad, consisting of Aidan Caves (Vancouver, BC), Adam Jamieson (Barrie, ON), Jay Lamoureux (Victoria, BC) and Ed Veal (Queensville, ON).  The team rode the 4000 metre final against Colombia, and finished with a time of three minutes and 59.931 seconds, a new Canadian record.  Colombia’s time of 3:55.362 was a Pan Am Championship record.

“It feels good to finally get [the time] we’ve been trying to get all year, which is a sub-4 minute ride,” said Caves.  “Now that we have broken that barrier, we’ll have to see how far we can go.  Our next step will be to repeat it.”

“We broke the record in qualifying,” said Veal, “so we knew we could do it again.  Everything was going perfectly and all signs said that we could do it.  We knew it would be very difficult to beat the Colombians, so our major goal was to break four minutes.  We had a real committed group, which made it happen.”

In other competitions, Evan Burtnik (Edmonton, AB) finished fifth in the Men’s Scratch Race.

The Pan Am Championships continue through Sunday.