CANADA FOURTH IN TEAM PURSUIT AT TRACK WORLDS

Cycling Canada – Apeldoorn, Netherlands, March 2, 2018 – Canada finished just off the podium on Day 2 of the UCI Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, on Thursday, with the women’s Team Pursuit squad finishing fourth.

After struggling on Wednesday in the qualifying round, the team of Allison Beveridge, Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Steph Roorda put in a strong second ride to qualify for the bronze medal race against Italy. For the first 2000 metres the teams swapped the lead back and forth, before the Canadians faded slightly to finish with a time of four minutes and 23.216 seconds, 3.214 seconds back. The United States won the gold medal.

Photo Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist (All Rights Reserved) – Women’s Team Pursuit
Media: Please contact Karine Bedard for image use.

“Our first ride yesterday was a little rough around the edges,” admitted Foreman-Mackey, “so we came back ready to fight in the next round and I think we can feel pretty proud of that ride. Obviously, we want to be on the podium, so it’s a little bit of a tough pill to swallow. We can look at these performances and figure out what we need to change for the Commonwealth Games in a few weeks.”

In the men’s Keirin, Hugo Barrette had his strongest ever world championships result, finishing tenth overall. Barrette won a Repechage heat to make the second round, but came up one hundredth of a second short in making the medal final.

Photo Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist (All Rights Reserved) – Hugo Barrette, Keirin 

“One hundredth of a second!” said Barrette. “I definitely had the legs today, but I just mismanaged the semifinal; it was my mistake, I went too early. It bit me at the end of the race and I had to settle for the 7-12 final. I’m not happy with the result, but I’m happy with my legs.”

The final Canadian to compete was women’s sprinter Amelia Walsh, who qualified 26th with a time of 11.383 seconds.  Walsh went up against Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands in the 1/16th round, the seventh fastest qualifier and was knocked out of the competition.

About Cycling Canada
Cycling Canada is the governing body for competitive cycling in Canada. Founded in 1882, Cycling Canada aims to create and sustain an effective system that develops talented Canadian cyclists to achieve Olympic, Paralympic, and World Championship medal performances. With the vision of being a leading competitive cycling nation by 2020 celebrating enhanced international success, increased national participation and world class event hosting, Cycling Canada manages the High Performance team, hosts national and international events and administers programs to promote and grow cycling across the country. Cycling Canada programs are made possible through the support of its valued corporate partners – Global Relay, Lexus Canada, Mattamy Homes, Louis Garneau and Bear Mountain Resort – along with the Government of Canada, Own The Podium, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

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