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Canadian Espoir Road Program 2003

January 15, 2003 – For spring 2003, the Canadian Cycling Association has decided to try something new with its promising Espoir road athletes. Thanks to Sports Canada and the 2003 Hamilton road worlds, the CCA created the Canadian Cycling Centre in Europe (CCCE).

For its trial year, the CCCE will function out of Castelsarrasin, a town 80km North-West of Toulouse in France. The goal of this centre is primarily to help young athletes progress to a competitive international level through more complete racing, while establishing a more familiar North-American environment when in Europe.

The first Espoir athletes to partake in this program were selected according to results in national and international races in 2002. They are:

CONDRON, Ian – Victoria, BC
EVANS, Cameron – Delta, BC
DAVIDSON, Andrew – Calgary, AB
MAHEU, Jean-SÈbastien – Montreal, QC
ROTH, Ryan – Bright, ON
TILBROOK, Warren – Ponthill, ON

The CCCE's racing program will start on March 2nd, after a weeklong training camp at the end of February. For the most part, the races chosen are listed on the national French racing calendar and, in some cases, are UCI Espoir races. The following is the proposed racing program:

– GP d'ouverture Pierre Pinel – March 2nd
– Circuit des 4 Cantons – March 8th
– Prix Mathias Nomblot – March 9th
– Circuit des Monts du LubÈron – March 15th
– Souvenir Francis Delpech – March 16th
– La Durtorccha – March 22nd
– Tour du Canton de St-Ciers – March 29th & 30th
– Tour de l'Indre – April 3rd – 6th
– Circuit des vins du Blayais – April 13th
– GP des fÍtes de Cenac – April 14th
– Tour du Canton de Dun le Palestel – April 19th
– Circuit des monts du Livradois – April 20th
– TrophÈe national de Pujols – April 21st
– Ruban Granitier Breton – April 25th to May 1st
– Tarbes-Sauveterre – May 8th
– Tour de CorrÔ¹ze – May 10th
– Tour du PÈrigord – May 11th
– Olympia's tour – May 17th – 25th
Note : Racing program is subject to change

As Spring 2003 will be the first attempt in creating a more competitive development scheme, through the CCCE, we anticipate the benefits will appear as early as the end of the 2003 season.

In 2004, it is the CCA's intention to expand the CCCE's facilities to the young women's development program as well as using the CCCE as a European nerve centre for all national team programs.

Jacques Landry
National development coach





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