April 20, 2003 – This past Easter weekend was the last weekend before the
monthly goal, the Ruban Granitier Breton. On Saturday, April 19, the guys
raced just north of Limoges in the GP Dun le Palestel. The region where the
race was taking place is fairly hilly with rough roads. It's not Quebec
“rough but coarse so you think you're crawling all the time.

The race started out well for the team as a break of 20 went up the road
after 10K with three Canucks in the move; Ryan, Ian and Andrew. However,
after 30K luck turned as Ian was ejected from the break as his frame
cracked and he needed a bike change; and Ryan was shot off the because of
the pace. The only guy still up there was Andrew.

In the back Warren and Cam were not having a top day but were managing to
get in some moves nonetheless. The break with Andrew would eventually take
more and more time and with 20 to go things started splitting up due to
attacks as Langella, an ex-pro from Credit Agricole, went up the road solo
for the win. Andy ended up finishing in 12th place.

In this race it would have been interesting to see how Ian would have
faired, as he seemed to be in good form… oh well, mechanicals.

On Monday was the GP du Pujols just north of the city of Agen, well known
for its prunes… seems Agen's inhabitants are just “regular” people.

In any case the race was only 110K long with an 11K loop to do ten times.
All the guys were there to get in the moves and see what they could do…
no pressure because the Granitier is coming up on Thursday and the guys
need to be rested to fully benefit from the stage race's load.

Not much to say except that Cam and Warren were feeling much better and
were following a lot of moves early on. In the end, the win went to
Estadieu (Ex-AG2R) from Montauban.

On Wednesday the team makes their way up to Brittany for the Granitier;
the starters are (Ian) Condron, (Cam) Evans, (Francois) Parisien,
(Dominique) Rollin, (Ryan) Roth and (Warren) Tilbrook.

April 8, 2003 – This weekend was the Tour de l'Indre, a 4-day stage race
located pretty much in the center of France around the city of Châteauroux.
The profile of the stage race consisted of a 2K prologue/stage and three
road stages of 155 kms, 158 and 138 kms. Coming from the south of France it was
the 1st time the guys had come so far up north. The weather was relatively
cold and the wind was certain to be a factor. The team for this stage race
was comprised of Andrew Davidson, Cameron Evans, J-Sebastien Maheu, Ryan
Roth and Warren Tilbrook. As per Ian, he was in Aigle at a track pursuit
training camp with Eric Van den Eynde.

The prologue started well with a win from fellow Canadian Dominique Rollin
racing for the UV Aube club out of Troyes. Actually Dominique's team took
1st and 2nd. As per the guys from the center, the best result was from Cam
who finished 1.5 seconds off pace.

The next day was going to be a hard day with wind definitely breaking things
up. The first of the guys to drop off the back due to hard tempo from the
local club team right off the bat was Ryan who has just started training a
bit more after his knee injury. Later on was Andrew who was just poorly
positioned. And when the hammer really came down in the hills Warren and J-S
were relegated to a smaller group of 10 to 15 riders. On the other hand,
Cam was hanging in there staying well positioned and keeping his nose out of
the wind.

In the front group, where Cam was, breaks would come and go but nothing
really would stay away. During that time Dominique was trying to come back
from a puncture that the commissaires apparently deemed as a rider getting
dropped.Towards the end of the race, two riders broke away as behind the
group was split in two with Dominique trying to drive the second group on to
the first. With one to go a rider by the name of Salva Vilchez attacked the
first group, bridged up to the two in a break to win the stage and take the
jersey.

Stage 3 on the Saturday would prove to be a hard one with an abandon from
Maheu and Davidson after Ryan, due to his lack of form from an injury, was
out the day before for not making the time cut.

In any case, Warren had a better race and was hanging on with Cam, as the
pace was high. In the end, a group would go up the road that no canucks were
able to follow and the stage would go to the same guy as the day before from
the Trinitaine club team out of Brittany.

On the last stage, what was supposed to be a relatively easy because of it's
flat nature would prove to be just as hard as the last ones because of the
wind. Aside from a lot of riders getting dropped the pack was to stay
together until 10 to go where all the favored when up the road never to be
seen. Behind, the 39-strong group with all remaining Canadians in it was
reacting to attacks from different team but in the end the pack would sprint
for 11th spot.

Although disappointing for some on the team, Cam has shown that he is back
on form as well as Warren. As for the others, there is still time to get
ready for the months objective; Le Ruban Granitier Breton from April 25th to
May 1st. Meanwhile, all six have a races on Sunday and Monday.