July 28, 2009 (Ottawa, ON) – The National Para-cycling Team came back with strong performances from the first edition of the Piacenza – Cortemaggiore International Para-cycling Cup being held on July 25th and 26th in Italy. The hand cyclists came back proud with Shauna Whyte winning the road race in the women HCA category while Rico Morneau finished 2nd in the HCC category.

They reversed roles in the time trial with Rico putting an impressive time for a strong win and Shauna finishing 2nd. To be noticed is Mark Beggs’also strong performance in the time trial, finishing 4th, only 6 seconds behind the 3rd place, despite a misunderstanding at the finish costing him precious seconds.

In the men tandem category, Chalifour-Cloutier took bronze in the road race against a competitive international peloton and finished 6th in the time trial. The female tandem Ouellet-Hupin also put a strong performance, finishing 4th in the road race. Unfortunately, tandem Côté-Boily suffered a crash and a puncture at the road race but was pleased with their time in the time trial. Finally, Cowie-Smibert showed good team work for the overall performance of the team.

The LC1 put up a great show with a powerful bunch sprint finish where Mark Breton, slightly disappointed, still placed 6th. CP3, Quévillon and McDougall contested a strong race finishing respectively 5th and 7th at both the road race and the time trial.

The Canadian Para-cycling Team is now looking into its preparation towards the Road World Championships, being held in Bogogno, Italy from September 7-13. The team selection will be announced on August 10, 2009.