July 26, 2008 (Val-d’Or, QC) – The 40th edition of the Tour de l’Abitibi was launched on Friday evening with the Prologue at this prestigious event. A total of 155 competitors faced the daunting starting ramp to finish their sprint 400 metres later. The rain moved in for the evening after approximately 1/3 of the riders had managed to cross the finish line.

The fickle weather didn’t put a damper on the efforts of Oliver Harding-Sheath of the New Zealand national team, who finished in 27.22 seconds, defeating his nearest rival by more than a full second. Harding-Sheath may turn out to be a fine successor to fellow New Zealander Tom David who made a name for himself in 2007 by winning two stages at the Tour de l’Abitibi.

Americans Andrew Aj Meyer (28.25 seconds) and Ty Magner (28.29 seconds), both from the Florida Velo Development Team, graced the second and third spots on the podium in their first outing at the Tour.

The Stage 1 road trials will be held tomorrow, and cyclists will ride from Preissac to Val-d’Or. For this event Harding-Sheath will be wearing the leader’s brown jersey while Aj Meyer will be wearing the blue jersey, which is awarded to the best first-year junior.

Full results pdf here.

Results

1. Oli Harding-Sheath (Nzl) Bike NZ Nouvelle-Zélande 0:27
2. Andrew Aj Meyer (USA) Florida Velo Development Team 0:01
3. Ty Magner (USA) Florida Velo Development Team 0:01
4. Latham Croft (Nzl) Bike NZ Nouvelle-Zélande 0:01
5. Joshua Courtney (USA) Major Motion 0:01
6. Pierre-Étien Boivin (Can) Eva Devinci 0:01
7. David Boily (Can) Québec 0:01
8. Pierric Fiset-Picard (Can) Louis Garneau-Meglab 0:01
9. Marcos Rodriguez (USA) Florida Velo Development Team 0:01
10. Sim Lambert-Lemay (Can) Québec 0:01
11. Charlie Avis (USA) USA National Team 0:01
12. Zachary Stein (USA) ISCorp Junior Cycling 0:01
13. Scotty Tickemyer (USA) Major Motion 0:01
14. Arnaud Demare (Fra) France 0:01
15. Pierrick Naud (Can) Eva Devinci 0:01
16. Jerome Boucher (Can) Québec 0:01
17. Hamish Presbury (Nzl) Bike NZ Nouvelle-Zélande 0:01
18. Simon Honour (Nzl) Bike NZ Nouvelle-Zélande 0:02
19. Ivan Sivash (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0:02
20. Rémi Pelletier-Roy (Can) Eva Devinci 0:02
21. Colton Barrett (USA) Borah Development 0:02
22. Jamie Crass (Aus) Australian National Team 0:02
23. Danny Finneran (USA) Major Motion 0:02
24. Ben Michae Grenda (Aus) Australian National Team 0:02
25. Weston Luzadder (USA) ISCorp Junior Cycling 0:02
26. Sergiy Klimakov (Ukr) Ukraine National Juniors Team 0:02
27. Jean-Richa Cormier (Can) Apogee Kuota Élicycle 0:02
28. Danny Heeley (USA) Major Motion 0:02
29. Connor Sallee (USA) North East Regional USA 0:02
30. Iggy Silva (USA) USA National Team 0:02
31. Justin Middleton (Can) Alberta 0:02
32. Ian Moir (USA) USA National Team 0:02
33. Karl Steppan (Can) Louis Garneau-Meglab 0:02
34. Yann Beaulieu (Can) Louis Garneau-Meglab 0:02
35. Michael Bilodeau (Can) Espoirs Saputo 0:02
36. Antoine Duchesne (Can) Québec 0:02
37. Antoni Loignon (Can) Louis Garneau-Meglab 0:02
38. Jacob Schwingboth (Can) Cycling British Columbia 0:02
39. Ryan Aitcheson (Can) Ontario 0:02
40. Fr Ouellet-Lacroix (Can) Eva Devinci 0:02
41. Evan Huffman (USA) Arizona Select 0:02
42. Alexande Usa Montoya (USA) South Eastern 0:02
43. Erik Meier (USA) Baraboo Sharks 0:02
44. Rusla Abdulmanov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0:02
45. Arnaud Jouffroy (Fra) France 0:02
46. John Loucks (USA) USA Pro Chain / Team Turner 0:02
47. Kyosuke Kasahara (Jpn) Japan Junior National Team 0:02
48. Ludovic Fleury (Can) Québec 0:02
49. Philippe Alexandre (Can) Québec 0:02
50. Dustin Andrews (Can) Alberta 0:02
51. Maximilie Benjamin (Can) Apogee Kuota Élicycle 0:02
52. Marco Beauchesne (Can) Louis Garneau-Meglab 0:02
53. Alfredo Cruz (USA) Major Motion 0:02
54. Levi Baker (USA) Tyson Racing 0:02
55. Connor O’Leary (USA) Arizona Select 0:02
56. Ryan Zupko (USA) Arizona Select 0:02
57. Jung Curtis (Can) Cycling British Columbia 0:03
58. Sam Lindsay (Nzl) Bike NZ Nouvelle-Zélande 0:03
59. Scott Rosenfield (USA) ISCorp Junior Cycling 0:03
60. Colter Young (Can) Alberta 0:03
61. Morgan Ryan (USA) Major Motion 0:03
62. Jeremie Belisle (Can) Louis Garneau-Meglab 0:03
63. Taylor Gunman (Nzl) Bike NZ Nouvelle-Zélande 0:03
64. Mitch Gantz (USA) Baraboo Sharks 0:03
65. Philippe Brizard (Can) Eva Devinci 0:03
66. Tucker Gerald (USA) Tyson Racing 0:03
67. Ricky Gargiulo (USA) Borah Development 0:03
68. Arman Kamyshev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0:03
69. Ethan Stone (USA) ISCorp Junior Cycling 0:03
70. Brad Clifford (Can) Alberta 0:03
71. Evan Flater (Can) Cycling British Columbia 0:03
72. Nikita Umerbekov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0:03
73. Joshua Soboti (USA) North East Regional USA 0:03
74. Kevin Massicotte (Can) Ontario 0:03
75. Devon Novakowski (Can) Ontario 0:03
76. Oleksan Shapoval (Ukr) Ukraine National Juniors Team 0:03
77. Yannick Bedard (Can) Apogee Kuota Élicycle 0:03
78. Florian Taillefer (Fra) France 0:03
79. Jason Manning (Can) Cycling British Columbia 0:03
80. Boris Martin (Can) Cycling British Columbia 0:03
81. Andrew Lattimore (Can) Ontario 0:03
82. Zach Geyer (USA) Baraboo Sharks 0:03
83. Hugo Barette (Can) Espoirs Saputo 0:03
84. Edward Gurney (USA) ISCorp Junior Cycling 0:03
85. Andre L’Espérance (Can) Apogee Kuota Élicycle 0:03
86. Laurent Dallaire (Can) Espoirs Saputo 0:03
87. Kuanys Kylybayev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0:03
88. Julien Daly (Can) Espoirs Saputo 0:03
89. Arashi Hatadan (Jpn) Japan Junior National Team 0:03
90. Henry Willis (USA) Florida Velo Development Team 0:03
91. Austin Arguello (USA) Arizona Select 0:03
92. Boris Zimine (Fra) France 0:03
93. Philippe Lacasse (Can) Espoirs Saputo 0:03
94. Austin Allison (USA) Baraboo Sharks 0:03
95. Josh Macnaughton (USA) Mid-South Regional USA 0:03
96. Ryan Bibko (USA) Mid-South Regional USA 0:03
97. Marc-Oli Jussaume (Can) Eva Devinci 0:03
98. Nick Aitken (Aus) Australian National Team 0:03
99. Max Durtschi (USA) Arizona Select 0:03
100. Alex Mccormick (Can) Alberta 0:03
101. Samuel Murdock (USA) USA Pro Chain / Team Turner 0:03
102. Mathew Dahl (Can) Alberta 0:03
103. Tomoya Awano (Jpn) Japan Junior National Team 0:03
104. Hiroshi Tsubaki (Jpn) Japan Junior National Team 0:03
105. Joseph Welsh (USA) USA Pro Chain / Team Turner 0:03
106. Mason Hanrahan (Can) Ontario 0:03
107. Katsuma Fujioka (Jpn) Japan Junior National Team 0:03
108. Austin X Mclenithan (USA) Kazakhstan National Team 0:03
109. Taylor Kuphaldt (USA) USA National Team 0:03
110. Peter Braunsteins (Aus) Australian National Team 0:03
111. Blake Collier (USA) Tyson Racing 0:03
112. Alexis Ansard (Fra) France 0:03
113. Matt Connelly (Aus) Australian National Team 0:03
114. Colin Reinholt (Can) Ontario 0:03
115. Mac Brennan (USA) Borah Development 0:03
116. Oleg Solomko (Ukr) Ukraine National Juniors Team 0:03
117. Daniel Mcintyre (Aus) Australian National Team 0:03
118. Artem Orlov (Ukr) Ukraine National Juniors Team 0:03
119. Andrew Barker (USA) USA National Team 0:04
120. Ian Boswell (USA) Baraboo Sharks 0:04
121. Thomas Smith (USA) USA South Eastern 0:04
122. Kevin Young (USA) Borah Development 0:04
123. Nicholas Savadelis (USA) USA South Eastern 0:04
124. Anthony Olson (USA) Borah Development 0:04
125. Kevin Gottlieb (USA) North East Regional USA 0:04
126. Cory St-Clair (USA) USA Pro Chain / Team Turner 0:04
127. Alex Hetherington (USA) Tyson Racing 0:04
128. Anato Sosnytskyy (Ukr) Ukraine National Juniors Team 0:04
129. Will Mc Ginnis (USA) USA South Eastern 0:04
130. Brandon Lach (USA) USA Pro Chain / Team Turner 0:04
131. Tomohi Hayakawa (Jpn) Japan Junior National Team 0:04
132. Stephen Liguori (USA) Tyson Racing 0:04
133. Chris Hurst (USA) Baraboo Sharks 0:04
134. Derek Hughes (Can) Apogee Kuota Élicycle 0:04
135. Corey Hess (Can) Cycling British Columbia 0:04
136. Andrew Hammond (USA) Mid-South Regional USA 0:04
137. Kyle Foley (USA) North East Regional USA 0:04
138. Jimmy Page (USA) Florida Velo Development Team 0:04
139. Andres Cano (USA) Florida Velo Development Team 0:04
140. Da Clymore-Greene (USA) USA South Eastern 0:05
141. Michael Stone (USA) USA South Eastern 0:05
142. Kyle Kneabone (Can) Apogee Kuota Élicycle 0:05
143. Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0:05
144. Florent Brochard (Fra) France 0:05
145. Adrian Balsara (USA) Tyson Racing 0:05
146. Evgen Voroshyn (Ukr) Ukraine National Juniors Team 0:05
147. Matthew Green (USA) USA Pro Chain / Team Turner 0:06
148. Nathaniel Wilson (USA) North East Regional USA 0:06
149. Jordan Humble (USA) Mid-South Regional USA 0:06
150. Kyle Cochran (USA) Mid-South Regional USA 0:06
151. Larry Warbasse (USA) USA National Team 0:07
152. Sam Stone (USA) Borah Development 0:07
153. Charles-A Cloutier (Can) Espoirs Saputo 0:13
154. Chris Di Re (USA) Mid-South Regional USA 0:32
155. Eric Dobberfuhl (USA) ISCorp Junior Cycling 0:36