November 17/25 15:34 pm - Rochette & Clark Win National CX Titles
Posted by Editoress on 11/17/25
Québec dominated the Cyclo-cross National Championships on Saturday, in Lévis, Québec, winning ten out of 16 categories. Ontario won five and British Columbia was the only other province to take the top step of the podium with one victory. Québec and Ontario split the Elite titles, with Québec's Maghalie Rochette (SRAM Seeker) winning the women's title and Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills - Armada) taking the men's for Ontario.
All National Champions
While there was snow on the ground, the circuit was bare dirt after days of training. However, cold temperatures - exacerbated by a steady northwest wind - froze the ground solid, so riders had to bump their way through hard ruts. With the windchill factor, it was well below freezing. The circuit was almost identical to the year before; with many technical sections and off-camber corners.
The Elite women's race was absent defending champion Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) and her sister/teammate Ava; both rumoured to be restricted to road and mountain bike racing by their pro team. This made for a two-way competition for the title, between Rochette and Sidney McGill (Lastig). McGill has been riding very strongly this season, so this was no walkover for Rochette. The pair rode wheel-to-wheel for the first two laps, with Rochette being aggressive about getting to the front before all the technical sections. This proved to be key, as she opened a small gap by mid-race, and then extended that gap through each of the last two laps to win by 48 seconds. Katja Verkerk (Broad Street) took the bronze medal. Christel Ferrier Bruneau (West Shefford.St-Onge/Velomania), the 2017 national champion, and racing in Elite at 47 years of age, was an impressive fourth.
Maghalie Rochette wins Elite Women
In the absence defending men's Elite champion Ian Ackert, the race was between Clark, the 2022 champion, and Cody Scott (Competitive Edge). Clark attacked almost immediately, opening a four second gap in the first lap and was 32 second clear by the end of Lap 2, to eventually win by a minute and a half. Clark was remarkably consistent, riding all but the final lap with splits between 8:42 and 8:50. Émile Perreault (Accro Vélo) took third.
Tyler Clark wins Elite Men
In Under-23, the men's champion, Mika Comaniuk (Equipe du Québec) was actually faster than Elite winner Tyler Clark for his splits (albeit with one less lap), to beat teammate Julien Desjardin by 39 seconds. Alexander Woodford (Ride with Rendall p/b Biemme) took the bronze medal. In the Under-23 women's race, Rafaelle Carrier (Equipe du Québec) took her first national title in the category, having moved up from Junior. Nico Knoll (Steve Tilford Foundation) kept the race closer then many expected, finishing less than 20 seconds back. Dorithee Perron (Equipe du Québec) was third, nearly four minutes down.
Rafaelle Carrier wins U23 Women
Mika Comaniuk wins U23 Men
The Junior men's field was by far the biggest of the day, with 55 entrants. Emilien Belzile (Equipe du Québec) repeated as national champion, posting laps splits that were as fast as the Elite riders. Sagan Goertz (Stimulus Trek) took silver and Evan Moore (Ignite) was bronze. The Junior women's title went to mountain bike champion Éliane Blais (Equipe du Québec), with Elly Moore (Cyclery Racing) second and Alexa Haviland (Durham Shredders) third - it should be noted that Alexa's sister, Nicole, was national champion in U17 women and their mom, Sue Haviland, was Masters 45-54 national champion.
| Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top |
