January 5/06 8:29 am - 2005 in Review-July

Posted by Editor on 01/5/06
 

2005 - A Year in Review

Yesterday we continued our review of the 2005 season with the month of June. Today is July - the month dominated by the Tour de France.

The Tour is always the biggest race on the cycling calendar and this year was no exception, with the added interest that 2005 would be the last year for Lance Armstrong. Armstrong was going for his seventh consecutive title, and he took it with seeming ease. Of course, this has set the stage for "who will be next?", and the speculation has not stopped since the 2005 edition finished. Sadly, once again there were no Canadians in the Tour.

However, Canadians were busy elsewhere. The Track Nationals took place at the beginning of the month in Calgary, and road racers were down at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. Sue Palmer-Komar won the women's race and Dominique Perras finished second overall in the men's race. Michael Barry won the fifth stage of the Tour of Austria.

The Mountain Bike World Cup headed 'way down south to Brazil, however, no Canadians attended. The following weekend the series headed back up to Angelfire, Arizona and altitude of over 3500 metres. Marie-Helene Premont and Geoff Kabush each took second in their respective races at Angelfire.

Also at the beginning of July (July 3rd) we published an editorial titled "Disturbing Behaviour". This editorial generated a large amount of e-mail, all agreeing with us about deplorable behaviour and providing other examples. The editorial can be found here.

The Road Nationals took place the second week of July, and provided some exceptional racing - particularly in the men's and women's road races. In both cases, the race became one strong rider against the field, with Genevieve Jeanson prevailing in the women's race and Ryder Hesjedal finishing fourth in the men's. François Parisien made a bold move late in the men's race while all the major players hesitated and looked at each other. Parisien's move proved to be the race-winning one. This year also saw the return of the Criterium to the Nationals. Jerseys were awarded to Mandy Poitras and Charles Dionne.

In industry news, the Canadian company Sugoi was bought by Cannondale. So far, Sugoi has continued to be based in Vancouver.

BC Superweek continues to grow in stature, with Gord Fraser and Gina Grain winning Gastown in front of a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands. At the same time, across the country, David Veilleux was winning Abitibi for Canada - the first time in four years that a Canadian had won this prestigious Junior stage race.

Tomorrow - August and September