Cycling Canada  – GATINEAU, May 20, 2017 – Canada put five riders in the top-10 at the Chrono Gatineau UCI time trial on Friday, with Team Canada’s Karol-Ann Canuel finishing second.  American Lauren Stephens (Team TIBCO – Silicon Valley Bank) held off two world champions to win the competition.  Stephens, who finished fourth last year, finished 3.64 seconds ahead of Karol-Ann Canuel and 11.15 seconds in front of American rider Amber Neben (VeloConcept), the reigning individual time trial champion.

The 21 kilometre out-and-back course climbs up into the Gatineau national park for the first half before the riders turn around for a long and fast descent back to the finish.  Race day was sunny but windy.

Jasmin Duehring (Sho-Air TWENTY20), a member of the bronze medal winning Team Pursuit squad from Rio, set the first fast time of 31:05, 11 riders in from the 49 starters.  Her time held up until eight riders to go, when Claire Rose (Visit Dallas DNA Pro Cycling) became the first to go under 31 minutes (30:57).  Two riders later, Leah Thomas (Sho-Air TWENTY20) knocked over six seconds off the leading time, but Canuel was right behind her, and took the top time down to 30:23.  Canuel, in turn, was immediately supplanted on the Hot Seat by Stephens, with the final winning time of 3:20. 

“It was really a hard course,” commented Canuel.  “It was really hilly and also windy and it was hard to get your effort at first, but I’m happy with my ride. I finished second, and for sure I wanted to win, but three seconds is nothing. I didn’t know where I would fit today, I haven’t really worked on my time trial at all this year as I’ve been focussing on the classics and the road racing, so it was good to get an effort out there. I’m happy with my ride.”

“I’m racing tomorrow and then will take a little break to start prepping for Nationals and then the Giro in July. Last year the Giro was my favourite race. We won the pink jersey, but it was also a fun race to do and really hard.  I hope this year is going to be the same.”

Duehring finished seventh overall, 45.5 seconds back, followed by three more Canadians to round out the top-10:  Kirsti Lay (Team Canada) at 1:00, Leah Kirchmann (Team Canada) at 1:01 and Alizée Brien (Équipe du Québec) at 1:05.

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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Source: Cycling Canada 
Information:
Karine Bedard l Cycling Canada l 438-884-8771 l karine.bedard@cyclingcanada.ca