March 3, 2010 – Here’s a short report about Team Tour de Québec / Nativo at the 31th Vuelta Independencia Nacional in the Dominican Republic. Team Tour de Québec / Nativo recently competed at the 31th Vuelta Independencia Nacional in Dominican Republic – for some team riders it was their first international experience. The team wrapped up the 1,200km stage race with some good results and looks forward to upcoming races this season.

For this project, the team was sponsored by custom wear clothing company Nativo with Luis Arevalo, and supported by Leo Ventura of Innovation Bike Shop in New York. Michael Joannisse commented, “Our cycling season (Simon Gagnon-Brassard and Michael Joanisse) started in Austin, Texas on January 20th.  That gave Simon and I almost one month to train and get some mileage in our legs.”

Jean-Michel Lachance came from Los Angeles with some track speed but also with tendinitis which forced him stop on stage 7 when the pain reappeared. Benoît Lussier was the fourth rider from the Nativo/PG/Devinci team and this was his first international experience. But Benoît was unlucky as he was hit by an automobile on Day 2 between the two stages on his way to lunch, and on Stage 3 he had a double flat but with no spare wheel to continue the race.

Marvin Guzman from Vancouver arrived in very good form having trained a lot in Colombia for a month. Completing the roster was American Spencer Gaddy from Ion Sports Nutrition of Charlotte, NC, who enjoyed his experience with the Canadian team.

For all stage reports 31st Vuelta Independencia and Tour de Québec.

The riders rode well together and achieved many top 10 results during the 8-day stage race and finishing a solid 5th in the team general classification. The next team TDQ project will be in Africa for the international Tour de Maroc, in Morocco, from March 26 to April 4th.

The roster for that event will be:

– Mathieu Roy
– Michael Joanisse
– Simon Gagnon Brassard
– Cory Wallace
– Jean-Michel Lachance
– Hughe Lapointe