February 20, 2007 (Montreal, QC) – Team expresscopy.com officially kicked off the racing season at the Valley of the Sun stage race in Arizona last weekend. This being the team’s inaugural effort, objectives were first to enable riders to reacquaint themselves with racing after the off-season and to further develop synergy within the group. For this 3-day event, Expresscopy.com was represented by Stéphanie Bourbeau, Amanda Shaw, Audrey Lemieux, Alison Testroete and Jennifer Magur. With the first stage time trial over, the road race seemed to portend of a serious battle – and a battle it turned out to be.

The expresscopy.com women had planned to let everyone get a good look at the team colors (from behind) and it wasn’t long before they dove right into the thick of it with an on-form Stéphanie Bourbeau driving the key break. This group was off for the win until Stéphanie got tangled and went down, along with her chance for a win. In spite of some nasty road rash, she managed to resume racing, joining the chasers in support of teammate Amanda Shaw, who took the sprint as the chase group crossed the line.

Shaw and Bourbeau found themselves in tenth and twelfth place on G.C. as they launched into the final stage, a criterium in downtown Phoenix. This turned out to be another hard-fought contest, so much so that Stéphanie Bourbeau crashed again just two laps from the end, with more serious consequences this time, her shoulder bearing the brunt of the impact.

While the weekend’s racing has allowed D.S. Scott Gerrie to verify that his squad is in fact firing on all cylinders, he remains anxious to hear from the physicians who are examining Stéphanie Bourbeau’s injuries. Next stop for the Expresscopy.com women is the Merco Credit Union Cycling Classic in California. With a 5,000$ purse up for grabs, this race should generate some pretty intense competition.