July 20, 2007 (Val-d’Or, QC) – After yesterday’s tough double stage the iders had this morning off to recuperate. The rest must have done them well, as tonight’s 78.3 km circuit race throughout the streets of Val d’Or was hotly contested with Guilliaume Boivin (Equipe de Quebec) narrowly taking the win.

With Tom David (Nzl) New Zealand National narrowly leading the GC competition after his strong ITT ride yesterday he was a marked man today in the circuit race. The USA and Quebec teams, both with riders trailing by only a few seconds overall, were active in the early parts of the race.

Taylor Phinney (USA National) took a sprint early on in the race and was actively trying to get himself in a break. Riders from Quebec such as Guillaume Blais-Dufour and Stephane Cossette were quite active early on as well, but with the peloton well rested and quite aggressive, it was hard for anyone to stay away. Team Ontario, a lower placed team on the GC rode quite aggressively, seeming to have riders in the breaks at all times. At one point two Ontario riders, Devon Novakowski and Logan Cornell attempted a two-man break which gained a maximum of 10 seconds before being swallowed up as they climbed the large hill that defined the course.

As the race reached the final laps, the pace continued to be high with riders making last ditch efforts to form a winning move. New Zealand patrolled the front of the pack trying to keep things together for their GC leader David, but Equipe de Quebec’s Blais-Dufour and members of the US National team continued to attack.

It wasn’t until the final climb up to the finish that an attack finally stuck. Coming to the base of the final hill, through the tight streets of Val d’Or, Justin Williams (Major Moition) and Ryoma Nonaka (Japan National) made a last ditch effort for the win.

But the pace was high behind them and the peloton swallowed them up on the run up, but as they were reintegrated into the pack midway though the final climb. Bovin counter-attacked and narrowly held off a hard-charging Danny Summerhill (USA National Team and Taylor Phinney for the win. Bovin commented after the race that the win was welcomed as the entire team has been battling sickness for the last day.

Cossette, who finished second last evening in the points competition felt quite ill today and was dropped in the early going of the race. Today he was riding only to make the time cut so he could continue tomorrow.

Boivin remarked that when he went through the final corner Summerhill was leading out the sprint for Phinney so he dived to the inside and with a well-timed attack took the win. For his part Phinney accumulated enough time bonuses today to decrease his deficit in the overall to race leader David to only one second.

Tommorow’s 94.4km stage from Pressiac to Val d’Or promises to be an exciting race.

Results (brief)

1. Guillaume Boivin (Can) Québec 1:49:45
2. Daniel Summerhill (USA) USA National
3. Taylor Phinney (USA) USA National
4. Jarno Gmelich Beijling (Ned) Netherlands
5. Guillaume Blais-Dufour (Can) Québec