March 25, 2007 (La Haye Fouassière, France) – Canada’s Calyon/Litespeed team participated at the 182.5-km 8th Classic Loire Atlantique race on Friday. The race was won by France’s Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel) in a time of 4.11.01. Calyon/Litespeed riders Jean Sebastien Perron and Greg Reain distinguished themselves, arriving in the second group seven minutes back. But in the final lap, the commissaries pulled everyone out of the race who wasn’t in the first group for security reasons.

Of the 158 riders who started the race, 77 were classified, but this did not include any Calyon/Litespeed riders. We are in a good mood having already competed in two UCI races in 2007. A year ago, we had barely started our North American races at this point on the calendar. Right now we’re just trying to learn the ropes and to fix our objectives. We don’t want to simply survive against a peloton that just finished Paris-Nice. Our cyclists are riding well together, so things are progressing well.

Meanwhile, Veloptimum reports that Calyon/Litespeed team member Charly Vives had to return to Canada for his studies. The team puts an emphasis on school before sport.

Results

1. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 4.11.01 (43.623 km/h)
2. Yuriy Trofimov (Rus) Moscow Stars
3. Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux 0.01
4. Geert Omloop (Bel) Jartazi-Promo Fashion 0.10
5. Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93
6. Thom Van Dulmen (Ned) Rabobank Continental
7. Thierry David (Fra) VC La Pomme Marseille
8. Andrey Klyuev (Rus) Moscow Stars 1.02
9. Olivier Pardini (Bel) Storez-Ledecq Matériaux 1.17
10. Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux