May 26/06 7:25 am - Symmetrics Cycling Announces Track Squad

Posted by Editoress on 05/26/06
 

Symmetrics Cycling Hits the Track
Courtesy www.symmetricscycling.com

Canada's First UCI Track Squad

Look for the familiar yellow-and-black colours attacking velodromes around the world! Canada's number one Pro team, Symmetrics Cycling, has expanded its program with the news that it becomes the country's first UCI Track Team.

With an already successful spring behind the road teams - with victories all over the Americas, and top results at the commonwealth games - the expansion to the track was natural. Case in point - Symmetrics already has one of Canada's top trackies on the squad, points and scratch racer extraordinaire Mandy Poitras (a former silver medallist at the Track Worlds, no less.) Svein Tuft, on a whim, decided to try his hand at the 4km pursuit this past spring at the Commonwealth Games. Riding an individual test against the clock on the track was a natural extension for Canada's top time triallist, and despite virtually no training for it, riding a bike for the first time and with an abysmal start - the Langley rider still managed a respectable time of 4:36! That time was just over the former National pursuit record held by 1996 Olympic points race silver medallist Brian Walton - which was broken by Tuft's compatriot Zach Bell in the same event.

Pursuiting is a discipline where Symmetrics Cycling will shine when it comes to track racing. By having a bevy of the country's top time triallists, it means having several riders who would excel nationally, and internationally, in the 4-km test. With 4-5 potential individual pursuiters, that also means assembling a team pursuit squad with a real chance of Olympic qualification - something Canada has desperately lacked for several years. Team pursuit is the ultimate statement of teamwork, organization and speed: Three things the S-Team prides itself in. Shortly, team management will be considering other Canadian athletes that can round out the team in order to attain its pursuiting goals.

Symmetrics welcomes top track Anne-Brit Ericksen to the team, and be sure to look for more news on this front in the coming months.

For more information about Symmetrics Cycling and to view complete race schedules, visit www.symmetricscycling.com.