May 2, 2007 (Montreal, QC) – Daniel Chalifour and his pilot Alexandre Cloutier won the Defi Sportif’s Loto-Quebec road race classics on Friday evening, April 27. They won the sprint ahead of favourites Stephane Cote and Pierre-Olivier Boily.

“We are starting our season. Shape-wise, we are at level one and have to reach level five,” said Boily of Sherbrooke. Chalifour and Cloutier then won again in Saturday’s time trials with a comfortable lead of 1 min. 18 sec. on their closest rivals, Canadians Brian Cowie and Devon Smibert with Cote and Boily finishing fourth.

In hand cycling, Rico Morneau took everything and was wearing the leader’s shirt Saturday, while Mark Beggs held second place in the general overall standings.

Morneau, who had temporarily put his sporting career on hold in the winter of 2005, came back with a vengeance. The Montréal athlete trained all winter long on the Côte d’Azur and competed in Australia. He is more than ready and aims for nothing short of a podium at the next World Championships.

Most of the paracycling events took place at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, a 4.4-km loop around Notre Dame Island where the Formula One races take place in June. Handcycling events varied from 8.8 to 19.2km while the tandem races varied from 17.6 to 52.8km.

Montreal’s Defi Sportif wrapped up five days of competition on Sunday, April 25-29. The Defi is an annual sporting event for athletes with a disabilities, incorporating many disciplines, among them paracycling. Some 18 countries were represented by 3,000 athletes at the 24th annual Defi Sportif. Paracycling events included tandem racing (with blind cyclists seated in the second position) and hand cycling (for those with lower limb disabilities).