October 27, 2018 (Milton, Ont.) – Team Canada began Round 2 of the Tissot Track World Cup with a stunning display of form and talent. While their impressive accomplishments may have been overshadowed by the deep and competitive fields at the Milton Velodrome, the team’s strong riding bodes well. Team Canada and the new NextGen Pedal 2 Medal squad, racked up four 5th-place finishes in addition to breaking the Canadian record for the Men’s Team Pursuit, twice.

Their strong early form was evident on Day One during the team pursuit qualification rounds on Thursday with both the men and women’s teams qualifying 4th and 5th respectively. The men’s fourth place qualification was a massive confidence boost as a rising nation in men’s Team Pursuit as the squad shaved nearly two seconds from the old Canadian record.

Confidence in their ability to be competitive was clear on Friday, Day Two, the first official day of competition, with the women’s squad attacking the First Round with a fluid aggressiveness in attempt to break into the top-4 medal final. Their time reflected their confidence with a reduction of over three seconds off their original qualifying time. The depth of the field unfortunately drowned out their accomplishment as four other nations maintained their qualification spots as Canada settled for 5th.

The men had a similar intensity entering the first round where they were matched against the British-based Huub Wattbike Test Team, that qualified first, at three tenths of a second ahead of the Canucks. The Canadian squad took the race to the Huub Wattbike Test Team gaining an advantage from the gun, maintaining a half-second lead over the concept team out of Britain.

Yet the early aggression paid a toll on the Canadian squad, and they fell of the pace after 3000m. The second-place finish in the First Round didn’t prove to be a defining factor of the total speed of the team however, as the Canadians dropped another six tenths off their 24-hour-old Canadian record. An impressive time by the French saw them move up from 6th to 4th bumping Canada to its second 5th-place finish.

“It’s hard to miss the medal round by such a slim margin,” said Lamoureux, “but we set another Canadian record, so I think everyone’s pretty happy. With the coaching change, we are working on the more technical aspects and being faster in the last kilometre, and I think it’s helped us go a lot faster.”

The men’s 15km, 60-lap Scratch Race final saw lone Canadian Evan Burtnik, in his striking Pedal 2 Medal kit racing against featured favourites, Christos Volikakis of Greece and Oliver Wood of Great Britain. Early on the race was fast, but inactive as the peloton rolled on the black line at around 50km/h. Burtnik was arguably the main instigator of the race early on as he attacked repeatedly over the next 20 laps.

At the half-way mark Burtnik was reeled in by the peloton before a flurry of attacks caused gaps to appear in the stretched out field as Burtnik attempted to recover from his efforts. The race split over the next five laps as Burtnik was left in a chase group of five, half-a-lap down on the peloton. A moment of ebbing opened an opportunity for the eventual race winner, Vitaliy Hryniv of Ukraine, to launch his race-winning attack. Hryniv gained half a lap on the peloton in just over a kilometre, catching the rear of the dropped chase group containing Burtnik.

The chase group’s motivation to chase, paired with the power of the strong Ukrainian, pulled the entire field together with four to go. Burtnik, was positioned well in the final sprint and was able to pick up another well-earned 5th place finish just behind Volikakis, Wood and Felix English of Ireland, while Hryniv celebrated his victory further back in the field, avoiding the dangers of the final sprint.

The duo of Amelia Walsh and Lauriane Genest were Canada’s only entry in the women’s Team Sprint competitions, but unfortunately missed out on qualifying for the first round finishing 12th. The Australians were a strong force and produced an upset in the final by beating Germany the defending world champs. The men’s team sprint competition featured a stacked field and was a hotly contested race won by The Netherlands over Dutch trade team Beat with Great Britain third.

Day Two came to a close with the woman’s Scratch Race final. Canada fielded two riders in the affair with veteran, Alison Beveridge, and Devaney Collier in Pedal 2 Medal colours. The race began conservatively as riders watched each other with an early attack by Swiss rider, Michelle Adnres, but it was soon shut down. The race came alive with 13 laps to go as a flurry of attacks came from the rested field.

Surprisingly two riders were able to ride away from the seemingly indecisive group in the form of Russia’s Alexandra Goncharova and Lithuania’s Olivija Baleisyte. The pairing nearly lapped the field as the peloton began gearing up for the final sprint. Beveridge was in a excellent position with two laps to go before an unexpected slowing by the field completely changed the positioning of riders in the field.

Beveridge, caught out in the lull, was forced to sprint from 8th wheel, pushing a lot of wind as she moved up the wheels to the finish. Her strength faltered in the last half lap as she was unable to pass the final two riders on the track and she rolled in 5th. Collier, who was caught out in the lull, finished 12th in the pack.

All in all Canada had an excellent opening to its second Track World Cup on home soil as they were knocking on the podium door ever step of the way. The depth of the field proved impressive as fans are being exposed to some of the best world class competition anywhere.

Results here.