ROTH 15TH IN ELITE MEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE

Cycling Canada  – Doha, QATAR, Oct. 16, 2016 – The Road World Championships in Doha, Qatar, concluded on Sunday with the marquee Elite Men’s 257 kilometre road race.  Ryan Roth of Guelph, Ontario, finished a stellar 15th, among the best professional riders in the world.  Defending champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia successfully held onto his title in a sprint finish.

The Elite Men’s race took the riders north of Doha on a long loop into the desert before turning south to finish with seven circuits of the final 15 kilometre course on The Pearl island.  Strong winds and temperatures in the high 30s Celsius made for a grueling race of nearly six hours.

Roth was a member of an early breakaway that went clear just four kilometres into the race.  The group reached a maximum gap of nearly ten minutes, before being reeled in by a chase group shortly before The Pearl circuit.  The Canadian time trial champion stayed with the leaders despite the high pace, and finished nine seconds behind the lead sprinters.

“My role for today was to try and get in the early breakaway,” explained Roth.  “It’s a hard thing to do, but luckily the first move I covered was the break of the day.  Once we got up the road, it was just about managing my effort as best as possible; keep the group rolling, stay hydrated and do everything necessary to survive a long day.”

“We didn’t have a lot of information, but we heard that there was a selection coming up fast, so we backed off and waited for them to catch us.  Once we got to the circuit it was … just get to the next lap, and then the next one.  For the finale, I actually wasn’t feeling too bad, so I just wanted to do the best result I could.  A gap opened up just in front of me in the last kilometre, so I wasn’t able to be with the front guys sprinting, which was a bit disappointing.”

“I also have to say thanks to all the staff who worked so hard.  Our prep camp in Israel played a huge part in the team being prepared for this kind of race, so I have to give a special thanks to [team supporter] Sylvan Adams who made it possible.”

Team manager Kevin Field said “I assigned break duty to Ryan because I trust 100% he can do it when asked. And it was a good chance for us to have a reliable guy up the road before the echelons started.  For us, the race played out exactly like we expected, and it was super important having Ryan up there.”
 
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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.