July 22/13 10:03 am - Tour de l'Abitibi: Stage 7 report and Final Results

Posted by Editoress on 07/22/13
 

Several riders made all or nothing attempts during the seventh and final stage of the Tour de l’Abitibi Desjardins. All along the 43 kilometres separating the start in the village of Mont-Brun and the finishing circuit in Rouyn-Noranda, the Moroccan team Borah Development and the American team ISCorp attempted to take control of the race, but they were quickly caught during the in town criterium.

After ten laps around the urban circuit, Owen Gillott (Racers Against Childhood Cancer) took a ten second lead over the rest of the pack, to finish in first place with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes and 38 seconds. Not far behind, racers Stephen Bassett (eam ISCorp) and Emmanuel Gagné (Equipe du Québec) finished in second and third places, with only four seconds separating them.

At the beginning of the race a major fall at the back of the pack delayed more than ten riders and forced a few cyclists to abandon. However, despite the large distance separating both packs, several cyclists managed to catch up the leading pack during the town criterium. One of those able to rejoin was Steven Acero (Colombia-Fundación Everet), holder of the polka dot jersey for best climber, who fell after winning the first two King of the Mountain challenges, only to make a comeback after a few laps of the circuit. This determination and his good ranking throughout the week permitted him to hold on to the jersey, just ahead of his teammate Edgar Adolfo Tique Avila.

After seven stages, American cyclist Brendan Rhim (Team USA) earns the brown jersey, with a small two second advantage over Australian Owen Gillott, winner of the seventh leg. Despite fewer spots on the podium this year, the American team finishes with the blue jersey as well, thanks to young cyclist William Barta. As for Hendrik Pineda, from Team Canada, he finishes with the orange jersey, with 114 points, a lead of 22 points more than his pursuer, Gillott.

This 45th edition of the Tour de l’Abitibi Desjardins was marked by the Canadian national team and team Québec dominating, by winning numerous challenges during the week and by ranking well overall. In addition, it is the fourth time in the Tour’s history that a racer wins the orange jersey for all seven legs, which was achieved by Hendrik Pineda. Thus, several new records will be added to the Tour’s history, which has been present in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

Results from the final stage of the 2013 Tour de l'Abitibi Desjardins, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec