• July 1, Yaletown Crit
• June 26-28, National Championships
Recent Races
• K-Town Classic
• Race the Ridge stage race
• Tour of Walla Walla
• April 19, Ski 2 Sea
5 days in beautiful Banff/Lake Louise, sounds like the perfect vacation, but the team was there focused on racing. 2 new stages were added to this years mens race, a hill climb and short road race, totaling 5 stages. The womens race stayed the same as last year with 3 races over the weekend
The racing started off on Thursday with a gusty hill climb up a highway for 7 km. The big question was to use the Time Trial bike or Road Bike. Jeff, choosing his TT bike, rode up to place 11th. Owen chose his road bike and was just a few seconds behind Jeff in 12th. Dan was just as close behind Owen showing his climbing strength in 14th.
The following day was the highway 1A road race, and out and back race from lake louise. The course was as scenic and twisty as they come. On the way out it was a battle to get near the front of the pack, with everyone riding very aggressively. Shortly after the turnaround, Chris attacked with a small group and Jeff bridged up. A group of 7 of them were off the front working hard to stay away. The break away was caught with 1 km to go, but Red Trucks Jamie Sparling had attacked of the front. In an effort to catch the leader, Owen set pace on the front, and with 300m of uphill to go Tim surged, sprinting to second place, oh so close to Jamie.
Saturday morning was the Time Trial, the first stage for the women. A rolling 21 km loop with breathtaking views. Gillian Carleton showed her TT power with a second place. Alison was close behind in 4th, and Sarah Stewart in 5th. On the men’s side Owen was the was top 10 in 9th, maintaining a top 10 GC placing.
In the Evening the Criterium pleased huge crowds on a very technical course. The women’s field broke up into several smaller groups. Julie Beveridge (Team Tibco) was able to attack of the front for a solo victory. Alison was able to sprint to 5th place, with Sarah, Jess and Gill M in the same group, all top 10. The Men’s race was fairly chaotic from the start, with multiple crashes in the first few laps. Midway through group of 4 broke away with no TR riders. More crashes seemed to slow the pack down and the finish was a sprint for 5th. Chris led Tim to the front on the final lap for a perfect lead out into the final corner where Tim sprinted to 5th.
Sunday morning was an early rainy start for the women. A short race at 56 km proved to be fast. Alison got away with a group of 3, and was able to sprint for the win, moving in 2nd overall. Jessica and Gill M finished in a select group close behind, finished 5th and 7th respectively. The Men’s race saw Jeff attack on the first climb of the day, forming a 5 man breakaway group. The group put a lot of effort in but was caught with 30 km left (of the 115 km race). Lots of attacks followed but nobody was able to get away, resulting a group finished. Sprinting on tired legs, Chris was top 10 in 8th. Owen finished close behind and maintained his 8th place GC spot.
