July 19, 2008 (Mont Ste-Anne, Que.) – The Elite/U23 Men’s MTB XC National race is underway at Mont Ste-Anne. There are 54 Elite men starters who will complete 6 laps and there are 22 riders competing in U23 Men’s race who will complete 5 laps for the 2008 titles today.

Lap 1
Geoff Kabush (BC) Maxxis and team mate Matt Toulouse (QC) have jumped in front with Max Plaxton (BC) Rocky Mountain) on lap 1 of six.

Lap 2
Kabush has a 20 sec. lead over 6 chasers including Toulouse, Plaxton, Stefan Widmer (BC) D, Derek Zandstra (ON) 3 Rocks Racing, Andrew Watson (ON) Barrie Cycling Club and Marty Lazarski (ON), with Eric Batty and Mike Garrigan (ON) another 30 sec back.

Lap 3
Kabush’s lead is down to 16 sec. as they head up the climb on lap 3 with Plaxton in 2nd followed closely by Zandstra and Watson… then it’s Toulouse, Widmer and Lazarski.

Lap 4
As the riders finish the third lap and begin lap 4 it’s Kabush still in front by 15-20 seconds with Zandstra now in 2nd followed by Watson in 3rd at 5-10 seconds with Plaxton and Toulouse in 4th and 5th but Toulouse looks like he’ll pass him as Plaxton may have a mechanical. Trailing by another 45 seconds is Widmer in 6th with Lazarski in 7th and Peter Glassford (ON) in 8th (not Garrigan as we understood previously).

Raphaël Gagné (QC) Rocky Mountain is leading the U23 men’s race and has one more lap to go.

Lap 5 – U23 Final
Kabush has extended his lead to 26 sec. with Zandstra in 2nd and Watson in 3rd another 1:30 back. Toulouse has taken over 4th another 30 sec. back with Plaxton trailing him in 5th by 30 sec. Then it’s Widmer and Lazarski in 6th and 7th followed by U23 leader Gagné in 8th – on his final lap – with Glassford in 9th, Garrigan now in 10th and Batty in 11th.

Gagné wins the U23 title and had moved up to 6th (or 7th) in the Elite men’s race.

Unofficial

1. Raphaël Gagné (QC) Rocky Mountain 01:29:41
2. Francis Morin (QC) Specialized/Équipe du Québec 7:21
3. Kyle Douglas (ON) 3 Rox Racing 8:33

Lap 6 – Final
Kabush continues to lead as the Elite men begin their final lap with Zandstra charging at 22 sec. Toulouse had caught Watson in third at 2 min. but had to make a wheel change and is back in 4th trailing him by 20 sec. Plaxton is 1:30 behind in 5th with Lazarski now in 6th, Glassford in 7th, Widmer in 8th, Garrigan 9th and Batty is in 10th.

Kabush takes the win over Zandstra by 1 second.

Full results pdf here.

Results

U23 Men

1. Raphaël Gagné (QC) Rocky Mountain 1:29:42
2. Francis Morin (QC) Specialized/Equipe du Quebec 7:21
3. Kyle Douglas (ON) 3 Rox Racing 8:33
4. Leni Trudel (Can) Opus/OGC 8:44
5. Jonathan Boulanger (Can) Independant-VM 10:43
6. Brian Bain (AB) Cycle Meisters/Bowcycle 12:41
7. Ryan Atkins (ON) Team Ontario 13:28
8. Zach Winn (Can) Independant-VM 17:56
9. Andrew Thomas (SK) Team Sask / ERTC 18:53
10. Mathieu Boily-Tremblay (QC) Cyclone dAlma 20:18
11. Charles Blanchet-Levesque (QC) CVM Subway-Genetik 21:44
12. Cory Hancock (ON) 3 Rox Racing 24:02
13. Jean-Philippe Thibault-Roberge (QC) CCS/Dalbix 24:33
14. Cameron Jette (ON) Team Trek Store 29:53
15. Michael Mitchnick (ON) Team Trek Store 29:53
16. Duncan Sturz (Can) Atlantic Cycling Centre 34:46
DNF Simon Happy (Can) RST Velosports
DNF Felix Cote (Can) CVM Val-David
DNF David Maltais (Can) Acidose Lactique
DNF Laurence-Etienne Dube (QC) IGA Lambert/ACDA
DNF Adam Morka (ON)
DNF Georges-Edouard Duquette (QC)
DNF James Cowan (Can) Ironwood Racing

Elite Men

1. Geoff Kabush (BC) Team Maxxis 1:45:43
2. Derek Zandstra (ON) 3 Rox Racing 0:01
3. Mathieu Toulouse (QC) Team Maxxis 3:33
4. Andrew Watson (ON) Team Ontario 3:53
5. Max Plaxton (BC) Rocky Mountain 5:38
6. Martin Lazarski (ON) Rocky Mountain/K Capital Source 6:13
7. Peter Glassford (ON) Trek Store Toronto 6:32
8. Stefan Widmer (BC) Rocky Mountain/K-Capital Source 7:59
9. Michael Garrigan (ON) Jetpower/Epic Ride 9:49
10. Eric Batty (ON) Trek Bicycle Store Toronto 11:12
11. Julien Fillion (QC) Fillion-VM 12:11
12. Craig Richey (BC) Oak Bay Bikes 12:59
13. Matthew Hadley (BC) Independant-VM 13:58
14. Kris Sneddon (BC) Kona Les Gets Factory Team 15:20
15. Matthew Green (BC) Rocky Mountain-K Capital Source 15:58
16. Bruno Lafontaine (QC) Independant-VM 17:03
17. Eric Tourville (QC) Independant-VM 18:49
18. Marc Plante (QC) Velo Zone 19:39
19. Daniel Sessford (ON) Blue Competition Cycles 19:52
20. Olivier Bordeleau (Can) Xprezo 20:19
21. Gino Ricci (Can) Biogen Idec 20:37

1 Lap Behind

22. Ben Dawson (Can) Cycle Solutions-Angry Johnny’s
23. Drew MacKenzie (Can) IRC p/b Cameron Law
24. Marc-Andre Daigle (QC) Equipe du Quebec
25. Tim Carleton (ON) Trek Bicycle Store Toronto
26. David Dionne (Can) Xprezo
27. Alexandre Frappier (Can) Biogen Idec
28. Aroussen Laflamme (Can) Nebcor-Alto-Velo-Kona Endurance
29. Neil Schiemann (Can) Tall Tree Cycles
30. Thomas Skinner (Can) Rocky Mountain-K Capital Source
31. Julien Marceau (Can) CVM Subway-Genetik
32. Cory Zetterstrom (SK) BCW/Team Sask
33. Thierry Laliberte (QC) Sportif Bromont
34. Maxim Morel (Can) Xcluziv
35. Wai-Ben Wong (Can) Tall Tree Cycles
36. Carl Dionne (QC) Equipe Brunet
37. Imad El-Ghazal (Can) Norco Evolution Team
38. Julien Veilleux (QC) CIBC Wood-Gundy
39. Simon Tremblay (Can)
40. Sylvain Jean (Can) Espresso Sports
41. Jean-Francois Vennes (Can) Xcluziv
42. Eric Gagnon (Can) Xcluziv
43. Matthew Paziuk (Can) Norco Evolution Team
DNF Dominic Hamel (QC) Garneau-Crocs-Suzano
DNF Frederic Langevin (Can) Gaspesien
DNF Luc Doiron (Can) Marin
DNF Pascal Dumaresq (QC) Normandin-CBSF-Faire
DNF Louis-Remy Marier (Can) Ryno Performance
DNF Simon Marchand (Can)
DNF Frederic Bussieres (QC) Xprezo
DNF Benoit Simard (QC) Specialized
DNF Luc Boily (Can) Ryno Performance
DNF Osmond Bakker (ON) EMD Serono Stevens
DNF Vincent Meunier (Can) Demers-Specialized