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Canada’s Simone Boilard 8th in Worlds Junior women’s road race

Italian Pironne doubles her gold, AG2R's Frenchman Cosnefroy takes U23 title

22-09-2017 World Championships Junior Women; 2017, France; Wiel, Jade; Bergen;

Canada’s Simone Boilard gave Canada’s best performance of the Bergen 2017 road world championships so far with 8th in the Junior women’s road race. The podium had a familiar face on the top step as Italian Elena Pironne earned double rainbow jerseys at Bergen 2017. Pironne’s victory in the Junior women’s time trial came on Monday. In the U23 men’s race AG2R’s Benoit Cosnefroy best Sunweb’s German Lennard Kämna for France’s first gold of the event.


The Junior women’s race
The Junior women had four laps of the course for 76-km while the U23 men faced 10-laps for 191-km. The 1.5-km, 6.4% Salmon Hill sat in the middle of each circuit. Both races were wet ones.


In the Junior women’s race, attrition had reduced the peloton over the first two laps, then Pironne attacked on the descent of Salmon Hill on Lap 3. Even though a 12-rider chase group containing Quebec City’s Boilard came as close as 12-seconds at one point, Pironne stayed clear to take double gold, double rainbows.


Dane Emma Cecilie Norsgaard was the fastest out of the pack of chasers to take silver and Pironne’s compatriot Letizia Paternoster claimed the bronze to give Italy four of the six Junior women’s medals.

All four Canadians finished the race. Erin Attwell was 37th, Laurie Jussaume 63rd and Maggie Coles-Lyster 70th.


The U23 men’s race
The latter contest found a six-rider breakaway bolting on the first lap and a chase group reinforce the numbers to eleven with 130-km to go. Eritrea had three men in the escape while Japan boasted two. Norway led the peloton, with Denmark poised behind. The eleven held a 1:30 gap midway through the race.


On Laps 6 and 7, a couple of fugitives couldn’t hold on to their breakmate as the peloton closed in. American Brandon McNulty, last year’s time trial champion and this year’s chrono silver medalist, attempted to bridge, and Canada’s Alex Cowan was among a threesome that it out after the American.


McNulty led a new sextet at the front of the race with 61-km remaining. Heading into the penultimate lap, Spain grabbed the reins to keep tabs on the international six-pack. The American and an Australian fell out the back of the escape on a rise before Salmon Hill. The fugitives were absorbed on the climb and a Belgian tried to escape on its descent.

In the bell lap Italian Albanese attacked and out a little chase group Frenchman Benjamin Thomas pulled clear. German Lennard Kämna bridged to him on the rise preceding the Salmon, but reigning champion and home favourite Kristoffer Halvorsen fell apart on the same climb. Kämna pulled away on the ascent, with France leading the chase. Cosnefroy caught the German on the descent.

The duo had 12-seconds on a chase group with 6-km to go. They barely hung on as a chase bunch of thirty bore down on them, the Frenchman getting the better of the German.


Dane Michael Carbel Sendgaard gave his country two medals on Friday. Nickolas Zukowsky was top Canadian in 93rd.

Saturday is the elite women’s road race. The women will roll eight laps of the course, with Lex Albrecht, Sara Bergen, Karol-Ann Canuel, Alison Jackson, Leah Kirchmann, 14th last year, and Kirsti Lay representing Canada. The Junior men’s contest precedes the elite women’s. Charles-Etienne Chretien, Michael Foley, Kurt Penno and Graydon Staples face five-circuits with a 40-km run-in.


Bergen 2017 Road World Championships Junior women’s road race

Gold) Elena Pironne (Italy) 2:06:17
Silver) Emma Cecilie Norsgaard (Denmark) +0:12
Bronze) Letizia Paternoster (Italy) s.t.
8) Simone Boilard (Canada) s.t.
37) Erin Attwell (Canada) +4:14
63) Laurie Jussaume (Canada) 9:59
70) Maggie Coles-Lyster (Canada) 16:09

Bergen 2017 Road World Championships U23 men’s road race
Gold) Benoit Cosnefroy (France) 4:48:23
Silver) Lennard Kämna (Germany) s.t.
Bronze) Michael Carbel Sendgaard (Denmark) +0:03
93) Nickolas Zukowsky (Canada) +7:34