Foreman-Mackey solos to victory in Canadian national championship road race
Numainville sprints to second place with Leah Kirchmann in third, Bonhomme wins u23 title
Annie Foreman-Mackey of the Cyclery-Opus took an impressive victory at the women’s Canadian national road race in Ottawa to ride into the maple leaf jersey. The 24-year-old from Kingston, Ont. soloed to the win after spending the race in the day’s breakaway. Defending champion Joëlle Numainville was unable to retain her title and sprinted to second place, 1:18 behind Foreman-Mackey, with 2014 champion Leah Kirchmann in third place. The Cyclery-Opus doubled up with Ariene Bonhomme sprinting to the under-23 title ahead of Sara Poidevin (Rally Cycling) and Kinley Gibson (Trek Red Truck Racing).
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The race took place in Tunney’s Pasture in the nation’s capital. On a hot day with temperatures hovering aroun 30c the peloton rolled out for 110-kilometers, 11 laps of the 10-km course. Immediately attacks started flying off the front of the peloton and it was Jamie Gilgen (Visit Dallas DNA Pro) who was the first to escape, established a sizable gap. With 70-km to go Alizée Brien (Tibco-SVB), Gillian Ellsay (Trek Red Truck) and Foreman-Mackey joined Gilgen at the front of the race.
With no urgency in the peloton and some of the biggest teams in the Cyclery-Opus and Trek Red Truck represented in the break the gap went out to 1:50. The first rider to fall off the race of the breaks pace was Ellsay.
With five laps to go, Kirchmann moved to the front setting a pace that saw splits form in the peloton but the acceleration were not enough to make a sizable gap in the breaks lead. Brien and Foreman-Mackey continued to push the pace and the next rider to be dropped from the break was Gilgen who had been out since the start.
Again, Kirchmann came to the front to try and encourage some cooperation but she found no allies. After the race she said, “I was working really hard but there wasn’t good organization in the peloton.”
With less than 20-km to go and the gap to the breakaway hovering around two minutes, Foreman-Mackey attacked. Brien could not hold the pace of the track endurance rider who earned a bronze medal at the 2016 track cycling world championships in the individual pursuit.
“The break went a bit early in the race and it was pretty windy so I thought it was going to be brought back,” said Foreman-Mackey. “I came in with a little bit less pressure, I came to commit to a team performance. I was able just to go out and have fun on my bike.”
Riding solo for the final 15-km, Foreman-Mackey held her advantage and crossed the finish line with one arm raised before finding a spot on the grass to sit down and soak in her victory.
“I went into the break ready to fully commit because I knew I had so many teammates in the pack so in the case the break got brought back I had teammates ready to attack,” Foreman-Mackey said about her mindset joining the breakaway.
From the peloton, Numainville sprinted to take second place with Kirchmann in third. The pre-race favourites being denied a victory by Foreman-Mackey’s impressive effort.
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“We had so many supporters out today, people from the Cyclery shop who have been part of the team over the year. It has a history in Ottawa so I think that makes the win at nationals here even more special.”
