September 20/24 15:50 pm - Gontova Second in Chrono Gatineau

Posted by Editoress on 09/20/24
 

The 2024 Tour de Gatineau opened on Friday with the Chrono Gatineau time trial. The two lap, 20 kilometre race against the clock was won by Germany's Franziska Brausse (Ceratizit-WNT Pro), with Canada's Nadia Gontova (DNA Pro Cycling) second and Marta Jaskulska (Ceratizit-WNT Pro) third. Three more Canadians finished in the top-10.


Franziska Brausse



Nadia Gontova



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The ten kilometre circuit began in the center of Gatineau, with a technical run through city streets, including one section with multiple speed bumps. The riders then turned onto the Gatineau Parkway, that took them into the lower slopes of the Gatineau Park. There were a couple of rolling climbs to the highest point of the circuit, before they cut across on a bike path to another parkway that descended back into town, and more technical sections with lots of corners that led back to the start/finish area for a second lap. Riders were sent out in three waves.

The early leader, after the first wave, was Team Canada's Katja Verkerk in a time of 29:13.7, 1.5 seconds ahead of Camille Primeau (Primeau Velo Groupe Abadie). Six riders beat Verkerk's time in the second wave, led by eventual winner Brausse, with a time of 27:23.48, a full 1:06 ahead of Fabienne Buri (Komugi - Grand Est). The final wave had five riders faster than Buri, but none could match Brausse, with Gontova the closest, at 4.51 seconds behind. Jaskulska finished 30.36 seconds back. The three riders on the podium were the only ones to go under 28 minutes.

"I was hoping for the best, but I definitely exceeded my expectations," admitted Gontova. "I had some good legs today and paced it well. I left it all out there, so I'm pretty stoked with this result. Typically, I'm not the most confident on more technical courses, so it was good I got to pre-ride the course a couple of times and talk through some of the technical sections with my team. The bigger, smooth road are what I prefer, so I tried to use those to my advantage and push harder on those."

Video Interview with Nadia Gontova

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