July 7/12 8:04 am - Tour de Delta: Stage 1, Svein Tuft Opens BC Superweek with Impressive Win

Posted by Editoress on 07/7/12
 

Svein Tuft made it look easy, but insisted it wasn’t - at least not until the end.

After pedaling 52 kilometres in just over an hour, it’s easy to believe him.

Photos by Greg Descantes

Results below

The 35-year-old Langley native pulled away from an impressive field halfway through the opening stage of BC Superweek on Friday night, cruising across the finish line with his arms raised and the rest of the riders more than half a lap behind him at the Tour de Delta’s MK Delta Lands Criterium.

Tuft has been enjoying a break from racing on the top-level Pro Tour in Europe, including the Giro d’Italia, for Orica-GreenEDGE. He didn’t feel great at the start line, but got stronger as the race went on, getting into an early seven-rider break, then pulling away midway through 40 laps of the 1.3-kilometre street circuit.

“Your body doesn’t change physically,” Tuft said of his time off. “It's just how much you want to push and really these crits, that's what it's all about, because everyone is going as hard as they can and it's just trying to go that little bit more to try and crack guys. And as soon as you can crack them, you’ve got to hurt yourself for a while because you’ve got to create that gap to make them think it’s "impossible" to catch you. And as soon as you do that, then you have to maintain, you just really have to put your head down and you know that you can do.”

Svein Tuft wins

With five-straight Canadian Time Trial titles and a seventh-place finish in the 2008 Olympics, Tuft had no problem doing just that, finishing in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 50 seconds - 45 seconds ahead of the field. Not bad for a guy who barely got back from a week of mountain biking in northern BC in time for the race.

“Living the good life, but sometimes a little rest does a guy good, and more just mentally. We spend so much time on the road, racing on the road, it’s nice to get out and hit he refresh button,” he said. “You come back and you can dig.”

Tuft dug hard into a field that includes Pro Tour teammate Christian Meier, riders from several top US teams, and many other top Canadians, including the current National Criterium champion, Ben Chaddock, of Idaho-based Team Exergy.

Christian Meier leading Nic Hamilton

They were soon all racing for second place. Florenz Knauer, in town for BC Superweek with the German-based Team Baier Lanshut, won that runner-up sprint, finishing just ahead of Australian Tommy Nankervis while the last of several hard crashes piled up behind them in the final corner.

“I went on final straightaway and got to corner first,” Knauer said through a thick German accent. “It was a strong and fast race, and the first 20 laps around was really fast. But Tuft was just higher ... like ... another level.”

In the 39-kilometre women’s race, it was Nicky Wangsgard of Primal/MapMyRide Cycling that found the extra gear - but not until just before the crucial final corner.

Wangsgard held off an early attack from Stephanie Roorda, an alternate on the Canadian track team for the 2012 Olympic, then made a break of her own to get to that last corner first, sprinting to win by just three-tenths of a second. Not bad for a just-turned 40-year-old college professor in her final year of pro cycling.

“I am retiring,” said Wangsgard, who finished the 30-lap, 39-kilometre race in 1 hour, 2.5 seconds. “Usually I go for a preem so I can check out a sprint, but I didn’t because I got a long week ahead of me, so I didn’t want to waste any matches. So I didn’t know, I just wanted to be first to this corner and Stephanie went early, and I had to go, and luckily I was able to beat her to this corner.”

For Roorda, BC Superweek is helping her get over the disappointment of not making the travelling portion of Canada’s Olympic team, while also keeping her sharp in case something happens and they need the alternate.

“After Trials it was a bit of a tough thing because that’s something I was working toward the last two years, but luckily these races were happening because I love racing here,” he said. “I have to maintain my fitness and this I perfect for that.”

Nicky Wangsgard winning the sprint

With Vancouver-based Jenny Lehman coming in third, Friday was also a perfect start for Roorda’s teammate on the Local Ride/Dr Vie. Superfoods, Lisa Howard, who runs a local development program to help women get started cycling.

Howard’s program, which helps Jasmine Glaesser get to the Olympics in just three years, was part of Lehman’s development path. Roorda is a teammate, and Wangsgard is a friend, someone she talked into coming to BC Superweek.

“[Howard] said you or Steph can win tonight so it worked out good,” said Wangsgard. “I said I think I need to finish my season by coming to BC Superweek and making some money so I can move on in life.”

Given that Wangsgard - who said having May through early August off has allowed her to cycling professionally for 10 years - is planning to stay in the sport as a director with Primal/MapMyRide, it may not take long to get back to BC Superweek.

“I was impressed by what I saw,” she said. “I notice future talent.”

The hard part for Wangsgard will be staying ahead of it for eight more races.

The nine-race, $105,000 BC Superweek continues with the second stage of the Tour de Delta, the exciting Brenco Criterium, on Saturday night, before wrapping up with the White Spot Road Race on Sunday morning.

Report  by Kevin Woodley, BC Superweek

Results from the first stage of the Tour de Delta: MK Delta Lands Criterium