Hello, and welcome to Montreal for the 2015 Canadian National Road Race Championships. The organisers have this season gone with a flat course, which will benefit the Sprinters, but in the Nationals, it is anyone’s game!
Just 17 riders lined up on the start line for the Road Race, with the pre-race favourites coming in the form of Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin, with Ryan Anderson and David Veuilleux as outsiders.
The day’s break formed shortly after the drop of the flag, with Michael Woods, Christian Meier, Zachary Hughes and Sebastian Salas all represented.
Sadly, it seemed the peleton did not want to bother chasing down the break, and with just over half of the race to go, the escapees had over 22 minutes of an advantage. The winner would be coming from one of these four.
Woods was the first to show his hand with 5km remaining with a hard attack off the front. Hughes tried to response, but was soon pulled back by Meier and Salas, as Woods gained a gap of around 32”.
Approaching the flame rouge, the gap was down to 12”, and Meier jumped from the chasing trio behind to try and catch the cycleYorkshire rider. He was closing him down fast, but was he catching him quick enough?
WHAT A FINISH!! In a lunge for the line, Christian Meier takes the victory by less than half a wheel ahead of Woods. Behind, Hughes took the sprint for 3rd, with Salas being the rider who sadly comes away with nothing.
Meanwhile the peleton crossed the line 27 minutes after the new Canadian Champion, and a long way outside the time limit for the day.
After yesterday’s Road Race, the Canadian Time Trial Championship was up next, with a trio of riders all fighting to take home the Gold Medal.
Alexandor Cataford was the first race favourite to hit the course, and hoped that being the rider to set the day’s benchmark would work in his favour.
Curtis Dearden was the penultimate rider to hit the course, and the second rider after Cataford who could challenge for the top spot on the podium. Given the disappointment for cycleYorkshire in the Road Race, he was even more motivated to go one better today for the team.
New Road Race Champion, and defending TT Champion, Christian Meier was last out of the starting gate, and proved yesterday he was in good form at the end of the season. Could he become the double Canadian Champion?
Cataford rode a nice steady pace over the route, comfortably taking the fastest time at each of the checkpoints over the course. But would his time be enough for Gold? Only time would tell -- 1h09’36
If Cataford has ridden well, then Dearden was on top form. Starting slow, his pace slowly built up over the course, and he was smashing the times set by Cataford at the checks. Crossing the line, he had over 1’05” in hand, and comfortably took the lead. This would be a difficult time to beat for Meier now -- 1h08’31
Had the Road Race taken too much out of Meier? At first two time checks, he was well down on both Cataford and Dearden, and struggled to make up the time over the rest of the course. Nevermind aiming for being a double champion, he was struggling to make the podium. He would cross the line 1’09” down on Dearden in 3rd place. -- 1h09'40
And so it is Curtis Dearden of cycleYorkshire who takes the 2015 Canadian National Time Trial Championship, with the RBC pair, Alexandor Cataford and Christian Meier, taking silver and bronze medal placings.
Christian Meier
