September 21/24 20:56 pm - Paternoster Wins Gatineau Road Race, Sarah van Dam Third

Posted by Editoress on 09/21/24
 

Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) won the Tour de Gatineau road race on Saturday in a field sprint ahead of Marlies Mejias Garcia (Virginia's Blue Ridge Twenty24) and Canadian Olympian Sarah van Dam (DNA Pro Cycling). Team Canada's Kiara Lylyk was fifth, with a total of four Canadians in the top-10, and 13 of the top-20 finishers.

The 12 lap, 120 kilometre race used the same ten kilometre circuit as Friday's Chrono Gatineau time trial, beginning with a technical section through city streets before entering the Gatineau Park. The way out on the Gatineau Parkway saw the riders go up the largest climb on the circuit before descending back into town.








Photo Gallery


A total of 95 riders started the race, with attrition taking the finishers down to 62; but only 17 in the sprint, with ten a few more seconds back. The first half of the race saw the Ceratizit-WNT team - that took first and third in the time trial - periodically up the pace to split the field, but there were no serious breakaways until late in the race, when Liv AlUla Jayco and Ceratizit-WNT managed to carve ten riders off the front. The group never got more than a handful of seconds, and DNA pulled the field back together to over 40 riders as the race entered the final 2.5 kilometres through city streets.

The final 300 metres had a short uphill to the last 200 metres, which was then flat to the finish line. Liv AlUla Jayco set up Paternoster perfectly, and she rolled across the line a bike length ahead of the rest of the bunch.

Van Dam flatted early in Friday's time trial and did not finish. "Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment; I was really looking forward to that time trial, so to come out today and hop on the podium, thanks to the work of my team mates ... I'm pleased with this.

"We tried getting up the road, but it wasn't quite successful. In the final lap, Ceratizit and Liv went up the road and my team mate Nadia [Gontova, second in the time trial] worked to close the gap, and I had some team mates help me position in the final kilometres.

"It's always super special to race back in Canada; this is the only [UCI sanctioned] 1.1 race in North America, so it was great to have a really strong squad here, and we've hopped on the podium both days, with one more day to go. We're super excited and motivated."

Interview with Sarah van Dam on FaceBook

Results

Photo Gallery