June 22/24 21:53 pm - Mike Woods Wins National Road Title
Posted by Editoress on 06/22/24
Mike Woods (Israel Premier Tech) finally won the Canadian championship title that has eluded him through his career, and will go back to Europe sporting the maple leaf jersey. In the concurrent Under-23 men's race, Quentin Cowan (SCO Dijon) made a late attack to take the title, while earlier in the day, Alexandra Volstad (Team Alberta) won the uphill sprint to win the Junior women's title, with Alexandra Fangeat (KW Cycling Academy) winning the Under-17 women's category.
The course consisted of a 28 kilometre ride out to a 28 kilometre rectangular circuit, and then a return 28 kilometres to the finish. Being the Beauce region, there were plentiful long rolling climbs. The U17/Junior women did one full lap of 87 kilometres, while the men completed five circuits, for a total of 199 kilometres.
The men's race was very aggressive on the early climbs, with Woods, his teammates and Carson Miles (Team N'SIDE) all anxious to establish a break. By the 15 kilometre mark 12 riders were clear - Woods and his teammate Pier-Andre Cote, Miles, Cowan, Olivier Peloquin (Cannondale Echelon), Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers), Matisse Julien (CIC U Nantes Atlantique), Jerome Gauthier (Ecoflo Chronos), Felix Hamel (Ecoflo Chronos), Joel Plamondon (Equipe du Quebec), Manu Moore (TaG Cycling) and Leonard Peloquin (Team N'SIDE). Within five more kilometres, a few more riders slipped across, taking the group to 15.
With most of the major teams represented, there was little effective chasing, and the gap started to grow. Riley Pickrell (Israel Premier Tech) and Michael Foley (Toronto Hustle) got to within 20 seconds of the leaders, but couldn't quite close the final gap. Halfway through Lap 3, Woods, Cote and Miles attacked the lead group, quickly carving out a 25 second lead, as the chase started to splinter into smaller groups. By the start of Lap 4 it was over a minute, and then Cote attacked, forcing Miles to work while Woods got to sit on. Of course, once the gap got big enough, Woods jumped across to Cote, and the two Euro-pros motored away. The gap began to open massively on the ride back in from the circuit, topping out at over ten minutes to Miles at the finish line.
The group behind Miles, consisting mostly of Under-23 riders thinking about their own title, was a further two minutes back, with Cowan attacking in the final 15 kilometres and managing to hold on until the finish line, finishing ahead of a sprint between Gauthier and Leonard Peloquin.
In the Junior women's competition, it was a race of attrition, which each large climb shrinking the lead group further. By the halfway point, the lead group was down to five riders, including Volstad, but came back together in the final kilometres, with 14 riders in both categories contesting the final uphill sprint. Volstad attacked out of the corner with 250 metres to go, and held on to beat Naomie Julien (Équipe du Québec) and Addison Frank (Ottawa Bicycle Club). In the same sprinting group, Fangeat beat Eve Buczkowski (Team Ontario) for the Under-17 title, with Sandrine Veilleux (Équipe du Québec) finishing a few seconds back for bronze.
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