A killer stage in Rimouski
Today’s final stage separated the contenders from the pretenders at the Tour de la releve international de Rimouski
Today’s final stage at le tour de la releve international de Rimouski was, in a word, brutal, featuring five super-tough climbs that quickly separated the fields in all of the races.
For the cadet girls Yellow-jersey holder, Dafne Theroux-Izquierdo, the day couldn’t have started off any worse. She broke her bike on the first climb, which started about 1 km into the 11.5 km loop. Team Canada quickly got her on another bike (a classy move since Theroux-Izquierdo was racing for Espoirs Laval. On the new bike, Theroux-Izquierdo was moving back towards the main pack when she crashed and race officials determined she should not continue the race. She was given the Red Jersey as the day’s most combative rider in deference to her gutsy race.
Today wasn’t a stage that the top women were destined to stay with the men, so we saw a group riding together which included Club Acidose riders Lea Audet, Marie Eve Poisson along with Team Canada members Tennessee Mayer and Gabrielle Fortin-Pilote.
Like yesterday, it was the cadets that ruled the day as Audet took the stage and Poisson moved into the Yellow Jersey. Fortin-Pilote successfully defended her Yellow Jersey.
The cadet boys race was dominated in many ways by the Polka Dot Jersey holder Jordan Cullen, who took two of the three Mountain Points sprints. A strong headwind off the top of the climb made it impossible for any of the breakaways off the top to stick, though, so the race quickly became one of a battle of attrition. Heading into the final lap there was a group of eight that had got clear, but the Borah Development and Chipotle teams quickly went to the front to slow things down so that the chase group of seven could join in.
That left a group of 15 to duke things out over the final lap. As has been the norm this week, Chipotle dominated the sprint. Today it was Michael Dessau’s turn to win a stage. His teammates wearing the Yellow and Green Jersey’s finished in the group at the front, which meant that Jonathan Schilling (who finished third) took the points title while Daniel Parks kept the Yellow Jersey.
In the end, le Tour de la releve international de Rimouski could be considered nothing but an incredible success. The athletes we saw leading here today are likely to be ones we’ll be following at the highest level of the sport in the future.
