The cycling season picked up in August with more activities resuming domestically and racing coming back in a big way in Europe with the restart of the 2020 UCI WorldTour season. Several Canadians are lining up at some of the biggest races on the calendar, including La Course and the Tour de France, while more Canadians will be racing at the end of the month with the start of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cups. At home, training camps are allowing Canada’s top athletes to resume their preparations for future goals with track, BMX and para-cycling camps taking place across Canada.
September will be an exciting month with the third installment of the Cycling Chats p/b AFEX webinar introducing the topic of athlete wellness, the release of new videos featuring our various athletes and programs, and educational CanBike x Lexus Canada videos relating to cycling safety, skills and etiquette. Make sure to follow Cycling Canada on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news, updates and results throughout the month.
Happy riding & stay safe!
The Track Sprint program just finished a two-week training camp at Edmonton’s Argyll Velodrome.
Photo credit: Nick Wammes
News
FOUR CANADIANS LINE UP FOR LA COURSE BY LE TOUR DE FRANCE
On Saturday, four Canadians raced the seventh edition of the UCI Women’s WorldTour event La Course by Le Tour de France, with former podium finisher Leah Kirchmann placing 23rd. The same day, the 2020 edition of the Tour de France kicked off with Hugo Houle of Pro Team Astana on the startline. Houle is the only Canadian to represent the country at the Tour this year, with Antoine Duchesne being sidelined due to mononucleosis.
SUCCESSFUL TRAINING CAMPS FOR PROGRAMS ACROSS CANADA
Canadian Elite and NextGen athletes are hard at work across Canada preparing for the 2021 race season. The track sprint team had a successful two-week training camp in Edmonton, AB at the Argyll Velodrome while their teammates from the men’s track endurance squad were back at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, ON. In Abbotsford, BC, our BMX athletes kept sharp with a camp for athletes across all categories, while Eastern-based para-cycling athletes gathered in Bromont, QC several times over the summer.
CYCLING CANADA UNVEILS PRELIMINARY PARALYMPIC NOMINATIONS
The top male and female para-cyclists have been ranked ahead of the selection of the Tokyo Paralympic cycling delegation in June 2021. This list will be used to name the starters and non-travelling alternates once Canada’s Paralympic quota is announced in 2021, while leaving open the possibility additional athletes may be named to the list. World champion Kate O’Brien and Paralympic champion Tristen Chernove top the rankings for women and men.
Events
REMAINING DOMESTIC EVENTS ON 2020 NATIONAL CALENDAR
Cycling Canada continues to work closely with organizers, provincial and federal health officials as well as our partners and stakeholders to assess the feasibility of holding the 2020 Canadian Cyclocross Championships and the 2020 Canadian Track Championships. A decision regarding these two events will be announced before the end of September. For the full list of cancelled and postponed events, click here. 2020 UCI MOUNTAIN BIKE WORLD CUP SET TO GET UNDERWAY
The XCO UCI World Cup season is set to resume at Nove Mesto na Morave in the Czech Republic on September 29, with top Canadian riders such as Haley Smith, Peter Disera and Emily Batty planning to attend with their professional teams. The Downhill season is scheduled to begin in Maribor, Slovenia before a stop in Lousa, Portugal in October. To view the full 2020 UCI Mountain Bike revised calendar, click here.
UCI CONFIRMS INAUGURAL CYCLING ESPORTS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The first-ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships are scheduled to take place on December 8 and 9, 2020 on Zwift. The event will feature Elite men’s and women’s categories, with both categories competing on the same route and completing the same distance. Canada has secured automatic invites for this inaugural race for the rainbow jersey.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tour de France
August 29 – September 20
France
Giro d’Italia Femminile (Giro Rosa)
September 11-19
Italy
UCI Road World Championships
September 20-27
TBD
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup XCO
September 29 – October 4
Nove Mesto, Czech Republic
We are proud to be part of a dynamic and outstanding cycling community whose many achievements and contributions go beyond performances on the bike. In an effort to recognize some of these many noteworthy achievements, Cycling Canada would like to give a shout-out and congratulate the following individuals:
- Emily Batty for undertaking the self-supported backpacking trip of a lifetime across Iceland, crossing some of the most remote places in the world.
- 92-year-old Bill Wall, a blind cyclists who despite mass participation events being cancelled raised money for cancer research through the virtual The Ride to Conquer Cancer.
- Arvid Loewen a 63-year-old grandfather who broke the World Record for most kilometres biked in a month in July.
- Cycling P.E.I. weekly women’s mountain bike ride which has exploded in popularity this summer.
- James Piccoli and Alex Cataford extended their contracts with Israel Start-Up Nation, while Mike Woods signed with the team for two years beginning in 2021.
- Laura Brown, Claire Cameron, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Steph Roorda who completed an 8-day, 1000km bikepacking trip that will be featured in an upcoming Experience Cycling video!
- The new High Performance Committee members Stephen Burke, Aroussen Laflamme, Kirsti Lay, Andrew Pinfold, Mike Pinkoski and Monique Sullivan.
We are always looking to recognize outstanding and notable achievements from the Canadian cycling community! If you know of anyone who is deserving of a shout-out, please don’t hesitate to send us an email.
CYCLING CANADA MERCH: NEW T-SHIRTS, SOCKS AND CREWNECKS
There is a fresh stock of t-shirts, socks and crewnecks now available in the Cycling Canada shop. Make sure to get yours to stay warm this fall or purchase gifts for the cycling enthusiast in your life!
Cycling Chats p/b AFEX is an exciting platform launched in May that brings together experts, athletes, coaches and cycling leaders from across Canada to discuss various topics related to the sport in Canada and abroad. To catch up on past episodes, head to our Youtube channel. On September 16, the series will tackle athlete wellness with guests Olympian Catharine Pendrel, Paralympian Tristen Chernove, Cycling Canada’s Mountain Bike Head Coach Dan Proulx, and moderator CSIP Mental Performance Lead Sharleen Hoar. Sign up now for the third episode webinar.
The Shifting Gears blog provides a platform for our staff, athletes, board and community to write about interesting topics and ideas. Last month, articles published on Shifting Gears tackled the following topics: A Take on Para-Cycling, My Journey From Athlete to Food Blogger and The Art of Catching the Breakaway: Understanding Chapatte’s Law. This fall, the series will return on a weekly basis.