May 27/07 11:06 am - Pan Am Championships: Men's RR report and top 10 results

Posted by Editoress on 05/27/07
 

Pan Am Championships Venezuela
Courtesy Sportcom & CCA

Martin Gilbert of Chateauguay, Que., won the gold medal in the men's road race Sunday to conclude the Pan American cycling championships in Valencia, Venezuela.

On Saturday, Gina Grain of Vancouver took the bronze in the women's road race.

"Mission accomplished," said Kris Westwood, high performance program director for the Canadian Cycling Association. "Martin's victory allows us to earn valuable Olympic qualifying points. I believe it is the first road race victory for Canada at the Pan Am championships. It was more important for us to win here than at the Pan Am Games in July. Those Games are not an Olympic qualifying event.

"The result is even more satisfying because we had a five-rider Canadian team while other countries fielded as many as 10. Martin rode well. He capitalized on an opportunity to breakaway and took the lead."

Gilbert was elated with his performance.

"I wasn't pleased with my track results this week so this is a confidence booster," he said. "With 25 kilometres to go, I saw an opportunity to catch two riders ahead of me. Within five kilometres I caught them. There was one Venezuelan and a Mexican. I made an attack and I kept the lead in a sprint to the finish.

"I hope I'll now be considered for the road racing pool and compete more often in the road events," added Gilbert, headed to Philadelphia for more races next week.

The other Canadian team members were David Veilleux in 12th, Kevin Lacombe, who fell early on, Charles Dionne, injured late in the race in a fall, and Ryan McKenzie.