December 22, 2012 – Former Canadian road champ, Veronique Fortin will ride for Italian-based women’s road team Pasta Zara-Cogeas-Manhattan (previously known as Diadora-Pasta Zara) in 2013.

The 32 year-old anesthetist from Gatineau was the 2011 Canadian road champ and rode for TIBCO in 2012. This past season she competed in at least 14 major road and cyclo-cross events, notably winning Ontario’s Hell of the North and New York State’s Tour of the Battenkill. She also had three top-five finishes between Cyclocross de Gatineau, Cyclocross de Rigaud, and at the Hammer and Anvil in October and November this year.

“I am gonna race more at the end of the season in Europe and hope to help the team to get good results,” Fortin told Pedal. The team races mainly in Europe, but in 2012 also raced The Exergy Tour and Liberty Classic in North America.

The 2010 and 2011 UCI World Champion, Giorgia Bronzini, raced for Diadora in 2012, but it is unclear if she will remain on the team for 2013. In November, the team announced that it had signed American Amber Neben and Salvadorian Evelyn Garcia. No official squad announcement has been made yet for next year, but Pedal believes that the 2013 roster is as follows:

–          Giada Borgato (ITA)
–          Giorgia Bronzini (ITA)
–          Rossella Callovi (ITA)
–          Inga Cilvinaite (LIT)
–          Veronique Fortin (CAN)
–          Evelyn Garcia (ESA)
–          Edita Janeliunaite (LIT)
–          Amber Neben (USA)
–          Amber Pierce (USA)
–          Agne Silinyte (LIT)