August 14/13 13:41 pm - Canada Summer Games: Women Road Race UPDATED

Posted by Editoress on 08/14/13
 

Quebec Sweeps Podium in Womens Road Race at Canada Games

The Quebec cycling team took the first four places of the women’s road race at the Canada Games, with Alizée Brien largely dominating the race, launching herself into a solo attack that lasted the last five of seven laps of the 10.46 kilometre urban circuit in Sherbrooke, QC.

Brien, who won the silver medal in the individual time trial earlier on Monday, crossed the finish line with two arms up with a time of 2:17:23, showing a gap of 4:52 over her teammate of Team Québec Adriane Provost.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it. It's crazy, even spectators who did not know me were encouraging me. I do not believe it. We [Team Quebec] wanted to destroy everyone. It was not necessarily me that was dedicated as the leader today. The goal was to work as a team and to be on top of the podium,” said Alizée Brien, who rides for the professional cycling team GSD Gestion - Kallisto.

The race started with a few attacks that proved unfruitful, until Brien went in a solo attack after a few laps. Brien maintained her gap at about one minute until the fifth lap, and then exploded to a maximum gap of 5:15 by the sixth lap. In the last lap, Brien managed to maintain her momentum towards the finish line for the victory.

“I left early, and my advance quickly rose to a minute. I lost a little time in the following lap, but I was able to push and gain it right back. I think the girls in the pack were working for me, to keep ahead. I did not really want to believe in the win too early, and lose all my gap. Even at the end, I thought Adriane was much closer,” added Brien. “The hill was hard, but I love to climb at my own pace, and I today I had the chance to ride at my pace and not to take the shots in the bunch.”

Provost launched her attack for second place with two laps to go, and quickly gained a gap of over two minutes on the disorganized peloton, which put all the pressure on Team Ontario to dispense all their energies at the front of the peloton. With 200 metres to go, Elizabeth Albert of Team Quebec launched the sprint for the bronze, and had plenty of energy left to grab that lost podium spot.

Pascal Choquette, head coach of the Team Québec road cycling team, was obviously pleased with the podium sweep: “Yes, we are very happy. I must say congratulations to the girls. They worked well and they adhered to the plan we had set before the race. The plan was to take control of the race, and force other provinces to work hard early in the race, even if we had to burn ourselves. We had the team for that strategy.”

Choquette praised the efforts deployed by Brien, but also of the four other cyclists in Team Québec. “For Alizée to ride solo five laps is an outstanding effort. Alizée is excellent in the time trials, so she had a good chance to make it to the line. We knew that others from the team would have a chance to make it as well, in the event she would not have been able to make it. We knew that the other provinces would lose all their cartridges chasing after Alizée, of course to our advantage.”

Results from today's women's road race in Sherbrooke, Quebec

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