June 2, 2008 (Saguenay, QC) – The Coupe des Nations Ville de Saguenay will get underway Thursday, June 5 to finish on Sunday, June 8. The only U23 Nations Cup event to take place outside of Europe, the Coupe des Nations Ville de Saguenay is the 6th event of this series after the ones presented in Portugal, Belgium, France, Netherlands and Italy. This series which is addressed to riders aged between 19 and 22 years old racing with their national teams, will reach its conclusion with the presentation of the Tour de l’Avenir in France next September.

As the host country, Canada is entitled to have two national teams in this race, who will measure themselves against national teams from Italy, France, Danemark, South Africa, USA, Netherlands, Colombia, Luxemburg, Uzbekistan, Argentina, a mixed team from UCI with riders from Algeria, Moldavia, New-Zealand and El Salvador, and finally Portugal, the current leader in the Nations Cup standings. In total 18 nations will be represented.

This race represents an opportunity for all nations to cumulate UCI points for the Nations Cup final standings, which will then determine the number of athletes each nation will be entitled to enter in the U23 category at the Road World Championships, which will take place in Italy at the end of September.

This will definitely be an outstanding show with a high calibre and homogenous field. Some of these riders will eventually become great champions and maybe even Tour de France winners.

All five stages, including four road races and one individual time trial, will take place in Ville de Saguenay on different courses that have been selected for their spectacular characteristics.

More than 150 volunteers will be involved daily to ensure this event is a huge success. RDS will present a one hour show to summarize the most exciting moments of this international event. For more information, consult our website at: www.coupedesnationssaguenay.com

2008 Teams and Riders

Portugal
1. Henrique Casimiro
2. Rui Costa
3. Marco Cunha
4. Jorge Teixeira
5. Ricardo Vilela
6. Joào Benta
Manager Poeïra Jose

Italie
11. Alessandro De Marchi
12. Matteo Busato
13. Andrea Grendene
14. Alfredo Balloni
15. Alessandro Mazzi
16. Alesssandro Colo
Manager : Fina Rosario

France
21. Jocelyn Bar
22. Damien Branaa
23. Arnaud Godet
24. Jean-Lou Paiani
25. Jonathan Thire
Manager Plaisance Jean-Yves

Danemark
31. Anders Hilligsoe
34. Flemming Rasmussen
33. Kalle Corneliussen
32. Kruse Brink Morten
35. Thomas Guldhammer
Manager : Hyldgaard Frank

Du Sud Afrique
41. Johan Rabie
42. Siphiwe Sowella
43. Jaco Venter
44. Jonathan Kinnear
45. Bradley Potgieter
46. Robert Thomson Jay
Manager: Barry Austin

États-Unis
51. Jake Keough
52. Nick Keough
53. Travis Burandt
54. Guy East
55. Ryan Bauman
56. Cheyne Hoag
Manager : Koschara Mathews

Lituanie
61. Evaldas Siskevicius
62. Marius Kurta
63. Tomas Mice
64. Edgaras Koaliovas
65. Gedimiwas Kaupas
66. Avardauskas
Manager Edmundas Pesepkis

Belarus
71. Maxim Kumilevski
72. Konstantin Shkredau
73. Artsium Prakofyeu
74. Yury Yazepchyk
75. Aliaksei Polushkin
76. Venir à
Manager : Seniushkin Hauhent

Hollande
81. Robin Chaigneau
82. Remco Broers
83. Berjam Lindeman
84. Marc Reef
85. Cornelius Vanoojen
86. Julian Van Dijk
Manager Freek Wallard

Canada “A”
91. David Veilleux
92. Ryan Anderson
93. Zach Garland
94. Éric Boily
95. Joël Dion-Poitras
96. Charly Vives
Manager Vincent Jourdain

Canada “B”
101. Adam Thus
102. Jean-Michel Lachance
103. Ryan Belliveau
104. Guillaume Boivin
105. André Tremblay
106. Vuckets
Manager Jacky Hardy

Colombie
111. Luis Henao Sergio
112. Andrés Duarte Fabio
113. Jarlison Pantano
114. Jefry Romero
115. Camilo Moyano
116. Yoedison Bustamante
Manager Arias Chaparro Antonio Maria

Luxembourg
121. Jempy Drucker
122. Ben Gastauer
123. Carlo Kirsch
124. Cyrille Heymans
125. Kim Michely
126. Tom Kohn
Manager Barnhard Baldinder

Ouzbékistan
131. Yaroslav Malakhov
132. Azamat Turaev
133. Vadim Shaekhov
134. Temur Mukhamedov
135. Ruslan Karimov
136. Azizbek Abdurahimov
Manager : Groysman Gleb

Mixte (Algérie/Moldavie/Nouvelle-Zélande//El
141. Abdelkader Belmokhtar
142. Hichem Chabane
143. Victor Mironov
144. Matthew Haydock
145. Shane Archbold
146. Mario Contreras
Manager Michel Thèze

Argentine
151. Andrés Agostini Mauro
152. Raul Giovannini Martin
153. à Venir
154. à Venir