Cycling Canada Cyclisme – (St-Georges, QC – June 16, 2016) Team Canada’s Hugo Houle finished third at the queen stage of the Tour de Beauce on Thursday, and now sits only 19 seconds out of the overall lead.  The 170 kilometre second stage of Beauce finished at the top of the Mont Megantic climb, which averages 12% for the entire length and maxes out at 18%, and came down to a battle of climbers over the final few kilometres.
 
American national champion Gregory Daniel (Axeon Hagens Berman) now holds the Yellow, Points and Young Rider jerseys, despite finishing 1:13 down on stage winner Sepp Kuss (Rally Cycling).
 
The race began with multiple break attempts, but nothing stuck until the race had covered nearly 30 kilometres. A large group of 24 riders broke clear, including three members of the Team Canada squad – Ryan Anderson, William Elliott and Kyle Buckosky.
 
The gap never went over two and a half minutes, but stubbornly refused to shrink until the final 25 kilometres. The break was shrinking in size as well, with seven riders remaining as they hit the Megantic climb, and only 20 seconds in front of the vastly reduced peloton, containing Houle.
 
Houle said that the day went well for Team Canada, “I was not concerned about the break because we had a good guy up there, Ryan Anderson, and two more team members. I made the call to not go when it went, because everyone was watching me and it would bring it back.  The Silber and Lupus teams realized they were in trouble so they had to chase all day long. We caught the break at the bottom of the climb and then it was time to do my job.”
 
“I came here saying I wanted to win the GC and I had to respond today and get some time on others.  I gave everything I could and I’m pretty happy.  The guy from Rally [Kuss] was really strong and he was right on my wheel.  I just rode as hard as I could to gain some time on other guys.  When he went I could not respond.  It was a really good day for Cycling Canada, and I’ll see tomorrow if I can get some more time.”
 
Gregory Daniel now leads by 11 seconds over Kuss, with Houle and Lemus at 19 seconds, Butler at 24, Morton at 41 and Ryan Roth (Silber) at 55 seconds.  Friday is a double stage day, with a 19.4 kilometre time trial in the morning and a 78 kilometre circuit race in the evening.  Houle, the current Canadian time trial champion, and Roth, who finished second to Houle, have to be clear favourites to do well, but the question is how much can Daniel and Kuss limit the damage?
 
“We have a lot of good riders here,” agreed Houle, “but I’m confident in my TT skills, and it’s going to be really important for me to do a big ride; it’s come down to me, to see if I can gain that 19 seconds tomorrow.”
 
Canada had a strong day on Megantic, with three in the top ten and seven in the top 20.  One rider of particular note is David Drouin, riding for Team Canada.  Drouin was 13th on the stage and is 14th overall – third in the Under-23 standings.  He is also a local Beauce resident (from the village of St-Prosper, where tomorrow’s time trial starts and finishes).  He also holds the distinction of being the only Beauce rider to have ever raced Tour de Beauce for the national team.
 
RESULTS – STAGE 2
1. KUSS, Sepp (RALLY CYCLING) 4:15:32
2. LEMUS, Luis (CYCLING ACADEMY TEAM) +00:08
3. HOULE, Hugo (CANADA) +00:08
4. BUTLER, Christopher (CYCLING ACADEMY TEAM) +00:13
5. MORTON, Lachlan (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) +00:30
6. ROTH, Ryan (SILBER PRO CYCLING) +00:44
7. CARPENTER, Robin (HOLOWESKO / CITADEL P/B HINCAPIE SPORTWEAR) +00:46
8. TUREK, Daniel (CYCLING ACADEMY TEAM) +00:53
9. MORTON, Angus (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) +01:08
10. BRITTON, Robert (RALLY CYCLING) +01:09
 
YELLOW JERSEY DESJARDINS
1. DANIEL, Gregory (AXEON HAGENS BERMAN) 8:45:03
2. KUSS, Sepp (RALLY CYCLING) +00:11
3. HOULE, Hugo (CANADA) +00:19
4. LEMUS, Luis (CYCLING ACADEMY TEAM) +00:19
5. BUTLER, Christopher (CYCLING ACADEMY TEAM) +00:24
6. MORTON, Lachlan (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) +00:41
7. ROTH, Ryan (SILBER PRO CYCLING) +00:55
8. CARPENTER, Robin (HOLOWESKO / CITADEL P/B HINCAPIE SPORTWEAR) +00:57
9. TUREK, Daniel (CYCLING ACADEMY TEAM) +01:04
10. BEYER, Chad (LUPUS RACING TEAM) +01:14
 
RED JERSEY LE GEORGESVILLE
1. DANIEL, Gregory (AXEON HAGENS BERMAN) 8:45:03
2. KUSS, Sepp (RALLY CYCLING) +00:11
3. DROUIN, David (CANADA) +02:08
 
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 community programs to promote Cycling in Canada. For more information, please visit: www.cyclingcanada.ca.
 
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INFORMATION
Guy Napert-Frenette
Communications
Cycling Canada Cyclisme
Cell. 403 669-5015
guynf@performancepr.ca