There are no great cobblestone specialists in the nation of Canada. Houle and Cataford are the most likely candidates, the former a better rouleur and with higher end speed, the latter slightly better on the rough roads themselves. Piccoli and Boivin may be the best hopes for Nordstrom, the only team with more than one professional here.
Startlist
Spoiler
Burke
Jack
Desigual
Boily
David
Festina - OAKA
Cote
Pier-Andre
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
Matte
Charles
MOL
Boivin
Guillaume
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
De Vos
Adam
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
Duchesne
Antoine
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
Hughes
Zachary
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
Piccoli
James
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
Cataford
Alexandor
Podium Ambition
Houle
Hugo
Xero Racing
The wheat gets seperated quickly from the chaff on the second cobblestone sector, as Houle, Cataford and Piccoli are immediately the leading trio.
Piccoli gets dropped near the end of the third sector. Just over 20km and one long sector of cobblestones remain. Cataford needs to arrive alone if he wants to win.
Just as they exit that final stretch of cobblestones, Cataford gets a small lead! Can Houle recover?
He can! The two enter the home stretch together, under normal circumstances, this should be an easy win for Houle. But both are on their last legs, breathing heavily.
Cataford accelerates towards the line, Houle has been in his slipstream for a few kilometers now, can he counter?
No! This was about resilience more than it was about speed, and Alexander Cataford just had the tiniest bit more energy left in the tank after this ordeal. He’s the new Canadian Champion!
Boivin eventually seals the medal for Nordstrom, Piccoli suffers and finishes 5th behind Cote.
Result
1
Alexandor Cataford
Podium Ambition
1h13'40
2
Hugo Houle
Xero Racing
s.t.
3
Guillaume Boivin
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
+ 3'41
4
Pier-Andre Cote
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
+ 4'53
5
James Piccoli
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
+ 5'30
6
David Boily
Festina - OAKA
+ 7'20
7
Adam De Vos
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
+ 7'46
8
Antoine Duchesne
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
s.t.
9
Jack Burke
Desigual
+ 8'59
OTL
Charles Matte
MOL
OTL
Zachary Hughes
Nordstrom - CA Technologies
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Canadian Championships - ITT
Anything but Cataford securing the double championship would be a straight-up miracle, but the fight for the other two medals should be interesting, at least.
Duchesne is the first of the more ambitious rider to finish, he ends up with a time of 1h04’12.
Second in the road race, Houle takes the provisional lead here, 22 seconds faster, but that won’t last all that long.
Indeed, the next rider, Boily, is immediately another 22 seconds faster. This is a safe bronze medal at least, and you can already see the last two riders behind him, though not in the order they started in …
Alexander Cataford picks up his second national title of the year with almost comical ease, more than three minutes faster than Boily. Now the question remains, will it be silver or bronze for the Festina rider?
Bronze - second place instead goes to a man who didn’t even finish within the time limit in the road race, but who redeems himself here, and that’s Matte.
Canadian Championships - RR 
