Canadian Cyclist Road National: Men's Road Race UPDATES

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June 23/12 12:01 pm - Road National: Men's Road Race UPDATES

Posted by Editoress on 06/23/12

The men are on the road for their 180.2 km race

They head out of Lac Megantic, neutral start, the ride to Mont Morne ~ 40 km, where they will do 7 laps of a 14 km circuit with climbs up Morne every lap. At the end of the last lap, they turn back towards town and make a final run of 35 km to the finish.

Spidertech has 13 11 riders entered today. The joke last night was that Svein Tuft, Christian Meier , David Veilleux (Team Europcar), Dom Rollin and Micheal Barry should form "Team World Tour" and work together to fend off Steve Bauer's guys, who will be working together heavily. Someone had a bit of fun on the initial start list with riders names followed by SpiderTech Powered by C10, C11, C12, C13 and on with the riders

As they hit the road it is rainging really heavily and a crash has occurred, with Jacob Schwingboth (Cycling BC) going down

12:19 pm

12 km completed, lots of small attacks, but no serious riders

12:27 pm

Break at 18 km

Sebastian Salas (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Jean-Michel Lachance (Rossetti Devo), Will Routley (SpiderTech powered by C10), Nic Hamilton (Indépendant) and Rémi Pelletier-Roy (Garneau- Quebecor-Norton Rose) with a small gap of 10 sec

12:35 pm

All together

12:38 pm

2 riders gone at 24 km with a gap of 10 sec: Ryan Anderson (SpiderTech powered by C10) and Rémi Pelletier-Roy (Garneau- Quebecor-Norton Rose)

No longer raining and the sun is poking through

12:40 pm

Break caught, but Rob Britton (Team H&R BLOCK) then attacked and Ryan Anderson (SpiderTech powered by C10) jumped too. They have 15 sec 30 km

12:47 pm

They are caught

At 1 pm

an attack that saw a group of 9 go. Gap inceased quickly

1:20 pm

Curently. A group of 9 away with a gap of 5:50 as they hit the Climb at Mont Morne for the first time - 42 km done

Rob Britton (Team H&R BLOCK), David Stephens (Garneau Evolution), Derrick St John (Stevens Racing p/b The Cyclery), Marsh Cooper (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Will Routley, Ryan Anderson, Martin Gilbert, David Boily (SpiderTech powered by C10) and Bruce Bird (Wheels of Bloor/Graywood Developments)

1:31 pm

The second time up the climb and the gap is starting to come down. Now 5:10, hd been over 6 min.

The heavy rain that the riders set off in at lac Megantic had stopped, but now has returned. They may be finishing in the middle of a huge storm.

1:37 pm

The peloton goes over the top of Mont Morne and the gap is now 4 min

1:40 pm

Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE) is setting a blistering pace and riders are dropping off the back of the peloton.

The 4 Spidertech riders in the break are doing most of the work

1:48 pm

Rain (and lightning) is not letting go on the back stretch of the course.

1:50 pm

Svein Tuft closing the gap, Guillaume Boivin (Spidertech) on his wheel at the top of Mont Morne

Lots of riders dropping out - 25 gone at last count

2pm

Thunder and Lightening are circling Mt Morne

2:01

The mighty Bruce Bird may have met his match on Mt Morne. He is struggling to keep the pace of the MUCH YOUNGER Spidertech boys on the climb!!! Amazing what he has done tho' for a guy of 44!!!!

2:05 pm

Gap 3:38 on the 3rd time up the climb. Tuft, Barry, Meir, Rollin doing the work at front of chase of ~ 40 remainders of the peloton

2:25 pm

3:28 is the gap on top of Mont Morne. Halfway through this race (90 km done) . And the sun is trying to peak out!

2:31 pm

95 km done and the gap is slowly coming down - approaching 3 min

2:40 pm

The gap is at 2:50 with three laps of Mont Morne to go. Laps are 14 km. When the 3 laps done they head 'home' to Lac Megantic ~ 35 km to the finish.

2:48 pm

Gap down to 2:30. Peloton being led by Barry, Meier, Rollin and Tuft

Break is:

3:05 pm

The rain has stopped, the sun is out and the road is drying. Temp ~ 18 degrees

The gap is 2:40. w. Spidertech on front.

3:10 pm

At the top of Mt Morne the gap is 1:30. They have one more time around /climb up Mont Morne. then the 40 km to the finish.

3:19 pm

David Veilleux (Team Europcar) has joined Tuft, Rollin, Barry and Meier in the chase. Gap continues to fall

STech in break doing a lot of work, they know who is chasing.....

3:28 pm

Gap is 1:20 as they start the last lap/climb up Mt Morne

3:30

Gap 1:10

Now attacks start

Britton, Cooper and Routley have gone off the front of the break.

Barry and Salas have attacked from the chasers, trying to bridge

3:36 pm

New leaders!!!

Breakaway as split in two groups. Routley, Britton, Cooper at the front. Main group coming up fast! being led by Barry and Salas at 1 min

3:52 pm

The 2 front groups are now together, to form a group of 11.

Break: Rob Britton (H&R Block), David Stephens (Garneau), Marsh Cooper (Optum-KBS), Derek St John (Stevens), Bruce Bird (Wheels of Bloor) and Ryan Roth, Ryan Anderson, Will Routley, Martin Gilbert and David Boily (SpiderTech), Michael Barry (Sky), Sebastien Salas (Optum-KBS).

They have 47 sec on the remainder of the peloton with Tuft, Meier, Rollin, Veilleux

<40 km to go

4:03 pm

10 riders in the break. w a 45sec gap to chase group of 3: Nic Hamilton (Indépendant), Francois Parisien (SpiderTech powered by C10) and Antoine Duchesne (Garneau- Quebecor-Norton Rose) and 1:15 to the peloton. 30 km to go

4:10 pm

20 km to go. Of the 121 starters this morning, ~ 40 might finish. They have had rain, winds, lightning and a 7 times up a 2 km climb to contend with.

Gap is 45 sec to the rejoined peloton

4:15 pm

18 km to go.

The lead group has split. Barry on the front followed by Britton, Cooper, Salas and Roth

4:20 pm

new leaders: Barry, Britton, Salas, Cooper and Roth are away <15 km to go Barry can motor. Well respected World Tour rider

4:22 pm

Gap is down to 35 sec. Peloton is chasing hard.

4:23 pm

Barry is not waiting to be caught .. He attacks. Only Roth and Cooper can go with him