June 29/11 9:34 am - Mardis Cyclistes #4: Report and results

Posted by Editoress on 06/29/11
 

Mardis Cyclistes #4 in Montréal on Tuesday June 28th

David Veilleux (Europcar), the freshly-minted Canadian criterium champion, won Tuesday evening’s fourth stage of the 2011 Mardis Cyclistes bicycle races.

Veilleux was part of a breakaway of three who left the pack on the 21st lap of the 31-lap race. Many of the 67 competing cyclists were tired after an intermediate sprint; it was at that Veilleux, Jean-Michel Lachance (Rocky Mountain) and Antoine Duchesne (Garneau) chose to attack.

Lap after lap, the breakaway group built up their lead to finish some 36 seconds ahead of the pack. On the last lap, Veilleux surprised his two breakaway companions with an explosive burst of speed. Duchesne was dropped while Lachance was barely able to hang on. Veilleux finished with a clear victory.

“It was not easy to win here. I tried to breakaway earlier in the race, but everyone else was on my wheel [following me] so I waited. When Jean-Michel attacked, I went forward with him,” said Veilleux, a 23 year-old from Quebec City. “With the wind, I had to give it all I had to win. We kept up a good pace to keep the pack behind us.”

Veilleux finished the 50km race in 1:02:04, giving an average speed of 48.3 km/h. His breakaway companions seemed just happy to share the podium with a cyclist of Veilleux’s calibre. His team, Europcar, is racing in the 2011 Tour de France from July 2-24 although Veilleux did not make the cut for that event.

“I have no regrets about finishing second,” commented Lachance, 24, of Quebec City. “It’s great to finish on the podium,” added Duchesne, 19, of Blainville.

Canada’s top men’s team, Spidertech, was largely absent this evening’s Mardis race. “Most of my team mates are on vacation now that the national championships are over,” explained Bruno Langlois, one of only two Spidertech cyclists competing. “Most Tuesdays we’re fighting over who can be here, but not this week. My legs are still tired from the nationals this weekend.” Guillaume Boivin was the other team member present; Olympic cyclist Martin Gilbert (Spidertech) who usually ends up on the podium was away.

Defending champion Jean-François Laroche (Fantino Mondello) finished only fourth this evening, but increased his cumulative points because of the absence of Gilbert. Laroche now leads the series after four of ten stages and will be wearing the coveted yellow jersey at next Tuesday’s race. Veilleux is now third in cumulative points, behind Gilbert.

Junior men
Shawn Turcotte (Prud’Homme IGA) had a convincing win among the juniors. This win has increased his cumulative points to 48 points over rival Olivier Brisebois (Cycles Bernard Hinault) who finished second in this evening’s stage race.

Women
For the women, Elisabeth Albert (Rocky Mountain) scored another victory with Veronique Drapeau (Juvederm) finishing second and Audrey Labrie (Piste.ca) in third. With this evening’s win, Albert also increased her cumulative lead.

“It was not a hard race this evening which is good,” said Albert. “I didn’t have too much energy this evening after coming off the nationals in Burlington Ontario this past Sunday. We’ll see how it goes next week.”

Minime Boys
The minime boys’ victory went to Charles Côté (VC Longueuil) with the girls’ win going to Keltie Campbell (Cuisses d’or). But Édouard Laparé-Morin (Espoirs Laval) and Melyssa Fortin (VC Longueuil) remain the series leaders among the minimes.

About
The Mardis Cyclistes have been around Montreal for 34 years. Every summer for 10 weeks, stage races (called “criteriums”) are presented on Tuesday evenings. Younger cyclists start at 5:30 and 6:00 pm, while the senior men’s race with cyclists blast off at 7 pm for 31 laps around LaSalle Park in the Montreal suburb of Lachine. It is free to watch these races.
release by Mardis Cyclistes

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