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Ontario road race championships: Roth wins solo

July 28, 2014
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Ryan Roth wins the Ontario Road Race Championships. Photo courtesy of Octto-Cervelo
Ryan Roth wins the Ontario road race championships. Photo courtesy of Octto-Cervelo

On Saturday, Ryan Roth (Silber Pro Cycling) won the 160-km elite men’s Ontario road race championships. Roth finished solo 1:33 ahead of Gaelen Merritt (Wheels of Bloor/Greywood Development) and Matteo Dal-Cin (Silber Pro Cycling).

With a parcours that was not overly selective, tactically it was a challenging race. It was an undulating course with several sections that were exposed to high winds. In the early going, several riders tried to form an early breakaway before the main split happened with six laps remaining. After a hard acceleration by Bruce Bird (Wheels of Bloor/Greywood Development) the race’s strongest came to the fore. A group of six managed to break free containing Roth, Dal-Cin, Octto-Cervelo rider Peter Morse, Casey Roth (Ride with Rendall), Bird and Merritt. The group powered away in the strong cross wind. Roth attacked in the closing laps of the race to take the win.

It was clear at the midpoint of the race that Dal-Cin and Roth had a plan and were confident after a strong showing at BC Superweek earlier in the month. When asked about his plan mid-race, Dal-Cin simply said, “I feel fantastic – we’ll do something in a little while.” It was a mere 10 km later when the major split happened and Dal-Cin drove the pace setting up his teammate Roth.

Travis Samuel (Jet Fuel – Norco) won the under-23 men’s race ahead of Jack Burke (Team NCCH) and Conner O’Brien. The top three U23’s were all in the front chase group of the elite men’s road race as the two categories raced in the same field.

In the women’s race Annie Foreman-Mackey (Stevens – The Cyclery) won ahead of Joyce Spruyt (Coach Chris) and Sara Byers (Kallisto-FCV). The 85-km women’s race finished in a bunch sprint that was hotly contested at the end with some of Ontario’s top sprinters in the mix. Candice Vermeulen (Kallisto-FCV) was a close fourth, while Suzie Brown (Holiday Inn Calgary Airport) finished fifth. On any race-day, the same finishers could finish in a different order.

Full results can be found at the Ontario Cycling Association.