Adriane Provost of SAS-Macogep-Aquisio brings a lot of experience to GP Gatineau

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Adriane Provost has raced every edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau. The race first ran in 2010 and Provost traveled to compete as a junior member of the Canadian national team being given the opportunity to race against a world class field in the prominent Canadian UCI women’s road race and time trial.

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It was one of the first times she was racing in a big professional field and recalls proudly being able to finish in the pack in the road race and getting a good result in the time trial. The next few years were tougher for Provost and it didn’t help that the race was attracting stronger riders. Suffering a broken elbow and a concussion made it hard to perform at her best. “It has gotten harder over the year, the field in Canada is not the strongest so when the race is opened up to more international racers it gets faster.”

Provost now races for the SAS-Macogep-Aquisio powered by Mazda team and at 23-years-old is still young but has a lot of experience and she is also kept busy by a demanding school schedule just finishing up her first year of universty. Currently studying nursing at McGill, Provost has a few weeks left of an internship at the McGill University health center before her focus shifts to cycling for the summer.

“I was mostly training inside throughout the semester because it can be more specific and efficient,” said Provost on training during the school year. “You need to be well organized and when friends want to go out or have lunch most of the time you have to say no. Almost half the team does school and cycling.”

In 2015, she had a good race at Gatineau being able to briefly go on the attack with Canadian time trial champion Karol-Ann Canuel. Provost is confident her team arrive at Gatineau with options and she is intent on helping her teammates achieve the result she believe they are capable of. The team is lead by the experienced duo of Irena Ossola and Stephanie Wetzel. Provost tips Luce Bourbeau as another member of her team to watch out for if the race is hard. Bourbeau is a law student at the University of Montreal having competed as a rower representing Canada at the U23 world championships in 2013.

The 2016 edition of the race features two loops in Gatineau park before heading onto a flatter urban circuit. “I like that the course heads into the park for two laps. They are nice roads and I’m better when it’s a hard race,” said Provost. “Because it’s an Olympic year it should be hard and maybe faster with a lot of riders looking at each other. I will focus on positioning and supporting my teammates who I believe are capable of having good results.”

After Gatineau, Provost and her SAS-Macogep-Aquisio teammates will have a two-week break before the national championships. Then the team will head to Europe to compete in the UCI Tour de Bretagne stage race and two other one day races in Belgium. “It’s really exciting. It will be my first time competing in Central Europe.” Provost represented Canada at the 2009 world road championships in Moscow.

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