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Canadians earn two medals on Day 1 of the Milton UCI Track Nations Cup

Elimination gold for Bibic and bronze for men's team sprint squad

Photo by: Kevin Mackinnon
April 12, 2024
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Dylan Bibic struck gold in a enthralling elimination race and the Canadian men’s team sprint trio took bronze in Friday’s first day of competition in the UCI Track Nations Cup at Mattamy National Cycling Centre’s velodrome in Milton, ON. There were also fourth places for Canada in women’s team pursuit and women’s team sprint. Milton is the third and final round of the Nations Cup after Adelaide, Australia in February and Hong Kong, China in March.

The third round kicked off with women’s team pursuit qualifying. Canada entered two squads. Team A consisted of Maggie Coles-Lyster, Sarah van Dam, Erin Attwell and Ariane Bonhomme while Team B was Anika Brants, Lily Plante, Jenna Nestman and Skylar Goudwaard. Coles-Lyster and company killed it, jumping over France to post the best time of 4:12.549, but Italy eclipsed the Canucks with 4:11.417, and then Great Britain powered to the top with 4:10.815. Canada B was the last of the 13 entrants.

The women’s team pursuit Canada A squad on the boards.

Next up was the men’s team pursuit qualifying. Again Canada fielded two outfits. Team A was Dylan Bibic, Michael Foley, Mathias Guillemette and Carson Mattern. Daniel Fraser-Maraun, Chris Ernst, Cameron Fitzmaurice and Campbell Parrish made up Team B. The A team whipped the boards in 3:51.157 to come second to Great Britain. Canada B missed out on qualifying for the next round by 0.042 seconds.

Dylan Bibic pulls Canada A in the men’s team pursuit qualifying.

The team events continued with the women’s team sprint qualifying. Canada fielded a crack squad of Kelsey Mitchell, Lauriane Genest and Sarah Orban. This trio ripped it up to bag the second fastest time behind the Netherlands.

Sarah Orban leads the women’s team sprint trio on Friday.

Noon loomed as the men’s team sprint qualifying played out. Ryan Dodyk, James Hedgcock and Tyler Rorke represented Canada. Fifth place was enough to get them in the next round.

In the women’s team pursuit first round, Canada was matched up with Italy. Although Coles-Lyster, van Dam, Attwell and Bonhomme were a second slower than the Italians, they posted the third-fastest time of the round and would thus face France for bronze.

Canada drew Belgium in the men’s team pursuit first round. Alas, the Canuck quartet didn’t defeat the Belgians, nor did it post a fast enough time to vie for bronze.

After the recess, the women’s team sprint first round pitted Canada against the Colombians, who were relegated. With a time of 47.530, the trio was off to the bronze medal match against the Poles.

The men’s elimination race brought national champion Bibic to the fence. The dreaded light flashed first for an Indian chap. One by one the fellows got the hook until there were three left and Bibic was guaranteed a medal. Brit Mark Stewart was eliminated, leaving Bibic and Japan’s Shunsuke Imamura. Bibic prevailed.

“Today, I tried something different,” Bibic said after the race. “With the final seven riders, I played what they call the devil’s advocate. I played it from the back. And, I’ll tell you, that’s way harder than anything I’ve ever done before. There were probably four or five sprints in a row at 100 per cent.”

Canada went up against France in the men’s team sprint first round. Presque! The Gallic trio fell short of the Canucks by 0.006 seconds. The Italians awaited in the bronze medal match.

Canada Eh fell behind the French after a kilometre in the women’s team pursuit bronze match and finished 3.5 seconds behind.

Genest was replaced by Jackie Boyle in the women’s team sprint bronze match. Orban led Canada over the first lap and the team was ahead, but by the time Boyle brought it home, the Poles had scored the medal.

Van Dam carried Canadian hopes in the women’s elimination race. Van Dam set up at the blue line. A false start tightened the tension. South African Danielle van Niekerk was the first to fall behind and get the hook. Unfortunately, van Dam made it to the final four but got boxed in and went no further.

Day 1 ended with a bang. Could the men’s team sprint gang break Canada’s streak of fourths? Canada was barely up on the Italians after the first lap, but Dodyk kept the trio aloft and then James Hedgcock brought it home for the medal.