August 22, 2005 – After a long season with many efforts, Campbellton’s Phil Cortes finally gets his first major victory of the season for his French team, UC Sablé. Yesterday, he won the GP de Coulaines. “It was a very hard race, their were riders everywhere! As usual, I broke away early (alone) and was joined a little later by two other riders including one of my team mates. I’m very happy!”. This victory takes a major monkey off Phil’s back after his disappointment at road nationals where he was a victim of a mechanical in the road race. “It’s not easy to race at this level here (DN1 / Espoir), but I’ve adapted and am now ready to step to the next level. I hope such win will open a few doors.”

After Christian Meier’s national time trial title (and podium in the road race and track’s scratch), Lisa Sweeney’s third place in the scratch race at track nationals, Dustin MacBurnie’s win at Tour of Whiterock and most recently Matt Hadley’s victory at the Fernie Canada Cup, this latest performance once again proves the progression of these young riders from the Atlantic Cycling Centre.

This week, Jamie Lamb, Matt Hadley and Ian McAvity will be heading to Levigno (Italy) to attend the World MTB Championships. A little later, Christian Meier will be part of the road worlds team in Madrid (Spain). Dustin MacBurnie and Lisa Sweeney will also be heading to Europe to help out the world’s teams in their respective preparations.