A week of successes for Canadian trade team Velo Select

On Sunday, the Canadian trade team Velo Select won the Grand Prix de la Mairie de Contrecoeur road race. The event on the Fédération québécoise des sports cyclistes calendar was Velo Select’s first race of the year. Rider Mathieu Jeannes, who had been racing in France, got to Canada on Saturday and took the race the following day via a solo breakaway.

While Velo Select is trade team that’s entering its second year, the organization started eight years ago as a club. Currently, its riders are mostly from Western Quebec and Eastern Ontario. Jeannes, however, hails from France. Czeslaw Lukaszewicz, four-time Canadian road race champion and 1991 Tour de Beauce winner, directs the team; Lyall Beattie manages. The team rides De Rosa Idol bikes.

Upcoming events for Velo Select include the Grand Prix de Sainte-Martine on Sunday, part of the FQSC’s elite and super prestige series. From May 28 to 31, part of the team will race in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay. For those not at Saguenay, the Grand Prix de Charlevoix (May 29 to 31) is the target. The race that Beattie is most excited about is Philadelphia International Cycling Classic, which announced Wednesday the teams that would be competing in the event. Velo Select will line up with UCI professional continental and continental teams, such as Caja Rural and H&R Block Pro Cycling Team.

The full Velo Select squad includes 11 riders:

William Blackburn (Lasalle, Que.)
Nicolas Barriault (Longueuil, Que.)
Logan Cornel (Kingston, Ont.)
Nicolas Ducharme (Lanoraie, Que.)
Jules Cusson-Fradet (Longueuil, Que.)
Matthieu Jeannes (France)
Ugo Lapierre (Montreal)
Benjamin Martel (Valleyfield, Que.)
Laurent Levasseur Lac Beauport, Que.)
Cameron Mcphaden (Kinsgton, Ont.)
Etienne Moreau (Collingwood, Ont.)