August 4, 2009 (Lachine, QC) – It was David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) who streaked across the finish first on Tuesday evening’s 50km Mardis Cyclistes Saputo race in a daring break. The pack followed some distance behind, with Martin Gilbert (Planet Energy) in second and Jean Francois Laroche (Kuota) in third. You must be logged in to post a comment.
Planet Energy initially dominated looking like they would not only win, but also create a new record time. On the 18th of 33 laps, Veilleux – who was unsupported by team mates – made a break with Andre Tremblay (Kuota) but Tremblay became nervous about crashing at speed on a corner once the rain began and fell back with the peloton.
Laroche did well on the intermediate sprints and ended up amassing almost as many points this evening as Gilbert, thus keeping alive his hopes to contest for overall series win. Gilbert now sits at 959 points overall, only 34 points ahead of Laroche. Hugo Houle (Garneau) at 751 points and also a contender didn’t race after crashing on Sunday’s 242km Montreal-Quebec City Louis Garneau Classic.
Concerns about rough play during previous stages prompted FQSC director Louis Barbeau to ride passenger on a motorbike last evening just ahead of the peloton and keep a watchful eye on things.
At the 3.2km BIXI Celebrity Challenge Jennifer Heil the Olympic gold medalist (acrobatic skiing) was the winner. A photo finish review put Kathy Tremblay, a triathlete and Olympic athlete, in second and Mardis Cyclistes publicist Philippe Boisvert in third. Boisvert demonstrated interesting technique with the rental BIXI bikes, going into an aerodynamic tuck by holding onto the handlebar luggage carrier. Andre Lavallee, the Mayor of Rosemont and man responsible for introducing BIXI in Montreal was also among the contestants. Pedal proudly announces that correspondent John Symon was among the top ten finishers, well ahead of rival journalist Gilles Vachet of the Journal de Montreal and rue Frontenac.
The evening was hot and muggy with a humidex of 33 degrees. Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch and rains began a few minutes before the senior men’s race finished.
Tennessee Mayer (Espoirs Laval) won the 24km junior women’s Shape race ahead of Anne-Marie Morin (Garneau) in second and Frédérique Lord (Garneau) in third. For the junior men’s Lait’s Go race, Félix Côté-Bouvette (VéloSelect) scored another win, followed by Doyle Elliott (Proco) in second and David Onsow (Espoirs Laval) in third. In the 16km minime Ultime race, it was Rosalie Cardin-Houde (Espoirs Laval) on the girl’s side and Jerome Corneau (Espoirs Laval) winning the Hop&Go race on the boy’s side.
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