June 26/09 17:52 pm - Road Nationals: Time Trial report, full results and PHOTOS

Posted by Editoress on 06/26/09
 

The Canadian National Road Cycling Championships opened on Friday with the individual time trial events for men and women, where three of four defending champions were successful in retaining their titles.  Svein Tuft (Garmin-Slipstream) won the men's elite title for the fifth time in six years, with a time of 52 minutes and 8.586 seconds for 40 kilometres.  Tuft finished 59.3 seconds ahead of his team mate Christian Meier, with Zach Bell (Kelly Benefit Strategies) in third at one minute and 33.4 seconds.  Bell's team mate David Veilleux finished fifth overall, to retain his Under-23 category title, with another Kelly Benefit rider - Ryan Anderson - taking second in the Under-23 race.

Photos
Elite Women
Elite Men
U23 Women

U23 Men

Tuft was a late entrant to the Nationals, after his Tour de France plans were derailed.  The world champion silver medalist in the time trial has been fighting back all spring from a hard crash at the Amgen Tour of California, but had still hoped to find the form for the Tour.

"It was a bit of a last minute decision to come here from Girona [Spain]," explained Tuft, "after I found out that I wouldn't be doing the Tour de France.  An hour after I talked with our director sportif [Matt White] I was in a taxi on the way to Barcelona with all my kit.  It was a stressful 36 hours, but I got here okay, and everything worked out fine."

Unlike last year, when Tuft was displaying the form that would bring him a seventh at the Olympics and silver at the Worlds, this title was more of a struggle.  "It was a beauty of a day today, without much wind even.  But I'm still missing that top end, like I had last year.  Last year, I felt that i had power to push everwhere on the course, but today I picked my battles and pushed on the hills while conserving in other spots."

In the women's 20 kilometre event, defending champion Anne Samplonius (Lipsmackers) had to settle for the bronze medal, after wet roads and malfunctioning brakes caused her to miss a turn in the final two kilometres and go off course.  Tara Whitten (Velocity Cycling Club) won her first road title with a time of 29 minutes and 29.499 seconds, with Julie Beveridge of (Tibco) finishing second, 28.5 seconds in arrears, and Samplonius at 45.5 seconds.  Beveridge also took the Under-23 title with her finishing time.

Whitten, a track cyclist who won a silver medal at the world championships earlier in the year, has taken up road racing this year, with immediate results.  "The track is still my number one focus, but road racing can help me on the track.  I thought it was a possibility [to win], but I knew there were a lot of strong girls here that I had never raced against.  I came here and gave it my best, and it worked out well.  The course suited me well with downhill mostly on the way back, so I knew that I could make up time on the way back because of my power."

Samplonius was leading Whitten by three seconds at the halfway mark, but her mechanical problems sent her shooting off course at nearly 50 kilometres per hour.  She was able to bring her bicycle to a halt by dragging her feet, and then had to retrace her route back to the course to finish the race.

"I don't know what happened," said Samplonius.  "My brakes were working fine earlier in the race, and then there was just nothing.  It caught me completely by surprise.  It is disappointing but, to be fair, I probably lost somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds, so Tara would likely have still beaten me.  It just would have been closer."

Race Note

The women's podium may seem rather confusing.  Tara Whitten won the Elite title, while Julie Beveridge had the second fastest time, but was also the top U23 rider.  Anne Samplonius was the second fastest Elite rider, but third fastest woman overall, and appeared thus on the Elite podium.  By comparison, the men's results seemed straightforward - Svein Tuft won the Elite, followed by Christian Meier and Zach Bell, while David Veilleux won the U23 title, AND got a jersey; Beveridge only got a medal.

The problem is that under UCI regulations, there is no recognized U23 women's category on the road (unlike mountain bike) so, while Canada can recognize the top U23 rider, the women are all lumped together when it comes to UCI points and and the awarding of national jerseys.  That's why Beveridge appears on both podiums, and does not receive a jersey.