April 25/23 7:53 am - Pier-Andre Cote Is the Pan American Road Champion

Posted by Editoress on 04/25/23
 

Canada finished a strong week of racing at the Pan American Continental Road Championships in Panama, with Pier-André Coté taking the men's road title and becoming the Continental champion. Coté is only the second North American ever to win the men's road title; the first was another Canadian - Martin Gilbert in 2007. In addition, Alison Jackson was second in the women's road race and third in the time trial, and Charles-Étienne Chrétien won the bronze medal in the men's road race.

Photo gallery

Coté was able to take the win in a reduced bunch sprint that came from a breakaway he and his professional Human Powered Health teammate Chrétien helped to instigate. The heat of the Panamanian sun played a big role in the early race dynamics, Coté explained. "The race was super warm and I think it played a big role in the end. People really paid a high price for their efforts from the first half of the race."

With teams from across the continents of North and South America, competition was fierce, with Colombia among the strongest and most aggressive squads. "Colombia came with a strong all-around team of six. They wanted a hard race [and] they were either being in every move or chasing everything down. It made for a very open and relentless race. We did a good job covering them and even catching them on the back foot on some occasions."

"We started out with the plan of going for a sprint, but Charles and I felt the race was going to come apart so we decided to break it ourselves. I attacked with 20 kilometres to go, and Charles bridged to my group moments later."

The pair rode together in a group of eight, and established a gap of just 30 seconds. A small margin, but ultimately enough. "I made sure no one went clear in the last two kilometres and then launched my sprint at the bottom of the last drag and held it."

Nicolas Tivani of Argentina took the silver medal.

Report compiled with the assistance of Human Powered Health

Elite Men Road Race, 204.8 km
1 Pier-André Coté (Canada), 4:47:53
2 Nicolas Tivani (Argentina)
3 Charles-Etienne Chrétien (Canada)   
4 Eric Fagundez (Uruguay)
5 Byron Guama (Ecuador), all s.t.
6 Nicolas Sessler (Brazil), 0:05
7 Daniel Bonilla (Costa Rica), 0:10
8 Dorian Monterroso (Guatemala), 0:14
9 Cristian Egidio (Brazil), 0:32
10 Julio Padilla (Guatemala)
11 Manuel Lira (Chile)
12 Andre Gohr (Brazil), all s.t.
13 Vinicius Rangel (Brazil), 0:36
14 Jason Huertas (Costa Rica)
15 Eduin Becerra (Venezuela)

27 Jordan Cheyne (Canada)
48 Francis Juneau (Canada), all s.t.

Full results

Jackson 2nd at Continental Pan-Am Championships Road Race

Jackson 3rd at Continental Pan-Am Championships ITT