June 23, 2006 (Montreal, QC) — Yesterday saw the first of four criteriums which make up the Coupe de la Paix. Merrill Collins (La Bicicletta) won the women’s race while Dominique Rollin (Velo Club Roubaix) won the men’s race. This is the Coupe de la Paix’s third year running and two foreign teams have entered the event, the professional Australian team southaustralia.com and the Dutch team, Betauwers.

With prize money worth $50,000 – something never before seen in Canada – things bodes well for the Coupe de la Paix, which is hoping to become a major event on the of North American race calendar.

The women’s race showed more quality than quantity of athletes. The riders blasted off to complete their criterium event which meant racing 20 times around the track for a total of 48 kms. Gina Grain (Colavita/Cooking Light), a world championships medallist, staged a breakaway but was caught soon after by Merrill Collins. The two battled it out for the rest of the race, but Collins eventually prevailed. Quebec athlete Anne Samplonius (Biovail) joined them on the podium taking third.

The men’s race also started off quickly and saw a breakaway of six riders – Dominique Rollin (Vélo Club Roubaix), Alexandre Lavallée (Louis Garneau Optik), Nicholas Rowe (Espoirs Laval), Benjamin Martel (Sleeman Clear Énergie) and two Australians, Wesley Sulzberger and Sean Finning (southaustralia.com). This break increased their lead each lap.

With six laps to go Rollin seemed visibly fresher than the rest and pulled ahead. He finished 24 seconds ahead of Sulzberger who was hotly pursued by Olympian Peter Dawson, (southaustralia.com), won the pack sprint for the seventh.

The second stage of the Coupe de la Paix will take place on Friday, June 23 in Mascouche, a northeastern suburb of Montreal, with a start time of 10 a.m. for the women, followed by the men at 12 noon.


Women

1. Merrill Collins, La Bicicletta, 1h 11m 48
2. Gina Grain, Colavita, at 2 s
3. Anne Samplonius, Biovail, at 1m 35

Men

1. Dominique Rollin, VC Roubaix, 1h 33m 12, 46.3 km/h
2. Wes Sulzberger, Southaustralia.com-AIS, at 24 s
3. Alexandre Lavallée, Garneau Optik