June 11/10 21:28 pm - Gatineau Team Presentation & Video

Posted by Editoress on 06/11/10
 

The team presentation was held this afternoon for the Grande Visite de Gatineau races to be held this weekend (June 12-13). An impressive field of riders has been assembled for the time trial (men and women) and road race (women). World champions, world championships medalists, Olympians and multiple national champions will race.

Photos

During the event, a 500 metre roller race was held between Ottawa natives Gord Fraser and Linda Jackson. Both former Olympians are here as managers of teams - United HealthCare for Fraser and Team Tibco for Jackson. Despite an attempted bribe by Jackson, Fraser won the roller race by a hair. A video of the race is below.

Race Notes:

- This will be the first race for double world champion track racer Tara Whitten after elbow surgery. Whitten chipped the bone on her elbow when mountain biking this spring. Tara reports that she is almost full mobility back, and will start physio next week.

- Impressively, this UCI sanctioned (UCI 1.1 time trial) women's event was pulled together in less than a month after the Montreal World Cup was cancelled. Kudos to Gatineau, events director Remi Berubi and race director John Large. The organizers hope to have a World Cup by next year.