June 15, 2007 — Some astute readers noticed that on Stage 1 of our Tour de Beauce coverage Alberta’s Jamie Sparling (La-Z-Boy) was awarded the red jersey for best young rider following. Yet it was Sparling’s teammate, Regina native Rob Britton, who was racing in the red jersey during Stage 2. Cam Evans (Symmetrics) took control of the jersey after Stage 2 and successfully defended it after yesterday’s Mont-Mégantic Stage 3.

We got in touch with Sparling to find out what was behind the jersey swapping. Apparently while Sparling was initially awarded the jersey he was later assessed a time penalty that moved Britton into the lead in the young rider category on Stage 1.