Joelle Numainville – Training advice from a national champion

In June, Joelle Numainville won the 2010 Canadian women’s road racing championship in Edmonton, also finishing ninth in the individual time trial. She followed that up with wins in the new GP Cycliste de Gatineau and Queen’s Park Grand Prix. A former junior Canadian and Quebec champion, the 22-year-old Laval native switched from the French ESGL93-GSD team to race for Webcor Builders this year. Now proudly wearing the champion’s maple leaf kit alongside fellow champions Will Routley, Svein Tuft, and Julie Beveridge, Numainville spoke to Canadian Cycling Magazine during a break in training for the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi. Her ultimate goal is to represent Canada at the London 2012 Olympics.

First of all, congratulations on your national title. What would you say helped you win the Canadian Championship road race?

There were no new skills in particular, although my general improvement in power has helped me to be faster on the climbs. It also improved my time trials and sprints (Joelle won her championship in a bunch sprint, nipping Tara Whitten at the line).

What happened in the final sprint? It stayed together and I was fine with that. My goal was to enter the final corner in the top three. With 200 m to go, I just tried to sprint as hard as I could and held it to the line. It was one of my top goals for the season.

You‘ve said you improved your power through training with Chris Rozdilsky of Powerwatts Studio in Montreal. How did you transfer this into climbing? Armed with the increased power I just did a lot of climbing. Everyone can do it, just give 100 per cent of yourself when you’re on the bike.

How do you juggle your professional cycling career with studying finance part time at the University of Quebec in Montreal? Sometimes it’s hard to juggle, but for me it’s all about balance. I have to do something outside of cycling. I can’t be focused on my training and cycling at all times. I went back to university in September and I’m pretty excited to see all my friends and do something different. My family supports me a lot and it’s because of them that I’m able to race.