June 27/25 21:08 pm - Baril & Leonard Take National TT Titles
Posted by Editoress on 06/27/25
On a hot, humid and windy day, the 2025 Canadian Road National Championships got underway with the Individual Time Trial titles for women and men awarded across Elite, Under-23, Junior, Under-17 and Para categories. Olivia Baril (Movistar) successfully defended her Elite women's title, while Michael Leonard (INEOS Grenadiers) served notice that he has arrived in theElite category by taking the men's title.
The out-and-back course started and finished in Saint-Prosper, just outside the home of the Tour de Beauce - St-Georges. As expected in this region, it was a rolling course, with some substantial climbs and descents. Riders covered between 11.5 kilometres and 34 kilometres, depending on the category. It was sunny and cool to begin, but quickly warmed up and became humid. Riders faced, head, tail and cross winds on different sections of the course.
Baril won by a slim five seconds over Julie Lacourciere (Les Régis pb Groupe auto Ami Juniors), with Nadia Gontova (Winspace Orange Seal) at 20.62 seconds - eight riders were within a minute of the winning time of 40:26.95 for 34 kilometres. Ava Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) took the U23 title with a dominating performance, over 90 seconds ahead of second placed Mairen Lawson (TaG).
The Elite men was expected to be a fight, with defending champion Pier-André Côté (Israel Premier Tech) and teammate Derek Gee expected to fight it out. However, it was Leonard, a former U23 champion, who won in convincing fashion, 34.84 seconds in front of Gee, just a few weeks off his fourth place GC finish at the Giro. Côté finished another four seconds back. In the U23 men, Mattern was a dark horse winner - more known for his track prowess than on the longer road distances. Jonas Walton (Project Echelon) was the only rider to come close to Mattern, finishing 14.56 seconds back, with Campbell Parrish (TaG) third at 1:30.29 .
Watch our interviews with Carson and Michael
Michael Leonard
Carson Mattern
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