April 13 – The UCI Track World Championships were launched today in Bordeaux (France). Martin Gilbert, of Chateauguay, QC, kicked things off for Canada this morning in the Points race, where he earned the 11th position.

Gilbert took part in a qualifying 15km Points Race this morning that saw the top-10 finisher’s advance to the final, following to the 60 laps and 6 sprints. Gilbert placed 11th in his heat with 4 points, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the final.

“I was active in the early part of the race taking points in an early sprint. I ended up in a break with another rider and we pushed hard to take a lap on the peleton. We were joined by a third rider and they took it up another notch. I was not able to stay with them and fell back to the peleton, hoping to recover and earn some points in the final sprints. It was close in the final sprint, but unfortunately I was beat out by the Czech rider for points that would have put me into the final” said Gilbert after the race.

“Martin knew it was going to be a difficult race and he knew that he was going to have to work hard. He was active early on and I wanted to see that. He fought hard in the final sprint, and he was strong enough to work his way into the final, but came up just a little short.” added Head Coach Eric Van den Eynde.