Canadian Road Nationals ITT Elite/U23, Paracycling Report and Photos

report by Cycling Canada

(Lac Mégantic, QC) – The 2014 Global Relay Canadian Road Cycling Championships began on Thursday with the individual trials for the elite, u23 and para-cycling categories, for both men and women. Svein Tuft (BC) Orica GreenEdge and Leah Kirchmann (MB) Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies were the fastest in the Elite/U23 men’s and women’s competitions, winning the Canadian titles and the highly sought after Red and White jerseys in the elite races.

The events took place on a difficult course starting in Val Racine, QC. The elite men travelled 40.4km on a challenging course featuring rolling hills while the women raced 28.8km.

Tuft raced to the first place with a time of 53:25, winning his career ninth time trial title. Tuft has won all but one Canadian Championships time trial race in which he entered. Jocelyn Lovell holds the record with the most time trial titles, with ten wins in the event at Canadian Championships to his credit, from 1969 to 1980.

Although Tuft was an overwhelming favorite to win the race, he was humbled by his victory.

“It’s never in the bag. You never what you’re going to get on the day. I came here really motivated. Coming out of the Giro, I had a good little rest, and worked hard coming back. I am extremely happy to come out here strong,” said Tuft post-race. “With the nature of a course like this, being difficult, people can go out fast the first twenty minutes. With the wind and the hills, you can have a good first half, but it’s all done in the finale. For me, I was just conservative and stayed on top of it.”

The winner continued adding, “It’s a special thing. To race in Europe with your National colours… it’s always been special. I see this race as being a really important thing. It’s a National title after all, and just like any other race, it’s hard to any race in the world, no matter where you are.”

In second place came Hugo Houle of Ste-Perpétue, QC (AG2R La Mondiale) with a 2-minute time deficit behind Tuft, while Ryan Roth of Cambridge, ON (Silber Pro Cycling) took third place.

In the Elite women’s race, Kirchmann from Winnipeg, MB won with a time of 43:30. Jasmin Glaesser of Coquitlam, BC (TIBCO-To-The-Top) came in second place less than three seconds behind the winner and took first place in the U23 standings while her teammate Anika Todd of Victoria, BC finished in third place.

“It’s feels incredible. I am excited about winning [the jersey]. Time Trial has been a huge focus for me this year. I spent a lot of time on my bike, and I tried to do as much time trialing as possible. I am very happy to see it’s paying off,” said Kirchmann, proudly wearing the Maple Leaf jersey after the race.

“I previewed the course a few days ago – it’s quite difficult with the climbing right off the start. Since its 30km/h, I knew that pacing would be a big factor in this race. It turns out I paced it well on the climbs, and was able to recover in the descents,” added the winner.

Top Pararcyclists Earn Red and White Maple Leaf Jerseys
In the para-cycling time trial race, the tandem of Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, ON and Lyne Bessette of Knowlton, QC was reunited for these Championships. The women, who won the gold medal in the road race at the Paralympic Games in 2012 and multiple World Championships titles prior to 2012. The Weldon/Bessette tandem rode to the first place of the women tandem category.

In the men’s tandem category, Daniel Chalifour and his teammate Alexandre Cloutier were the fastest of the group, winning the title.

In the T category, Marie-Ève Croteau of Québec, QC is pursuing her great comeback from an injury, winning the race and reaching 110% of the Canadian para-cycling standard. Croteau has excelled on the World Cup circuit this year, and is looking strong and confident on her bike. Shelley Gautier, the current World Champion in the T1 class, finished second with 93% of the standard.

In hand-cycling, Mark Ledo of Maple, ON won the H3-4 race, while Robert Labbé of Québec, QC finished first of the H1-2 race.

In his very first Canadian Road Championships, Michael Sametz reached 94.01 per cent of the Canadian team standards, taking the top spot of the tightly disputed C class.

The 2014 Global Relay Canadian Road Cycling Championships continue on Friday with the road races for all para-cycling classes in the morning, starting at 9am in Val Racine, The women’s road race will start at 4pm from downtown Lac Mégantic at the Centre Sportif Mégantic.

Elite/U23 Women’s results
Elite/U23 Men’s results
Para results below