Pier-André Coté wins first Canadian title in Edmonton
Coté's breakmate Carson Miles takes U23 championship
Photo by: Stefan RitterPier-André Coté beat reigning champion Guillaume Boivin and Ben Perry to take his first Canadian title on Sunday’s concluding race of the 2022 Canadian Road Championships in Edmonton, AB. Coté had been third in 2017. Human Powered Health had two national winners on Sunday: Coté and Kyle Murphy in the U.S.A. Premier Tech U23 Project’s Carson Miles, who was the only U23 survivor from a long breakaway, would wear his own maple leaf jersey at the end of the day.
After 160 kilometers, @PierAndrCt1 & @c11miles take home the final Road titles of the weekend ??
Félicitations les gars ? pic.twitter.com/wtnTuapcVv
— Cycling Canada (@CyclingCanada) June 27, 2022
The Elite and U23 men had 11 laps of the 14.4-km circuit for a total of 160.6 km.
An early breakaway consisted of Alec Cowan (L39ion of Los Angeles) and Laurent Gervais (Cannondale Echelon) but they were lassoed going into the fourth lap. Thunderstorms threatened the race.
Elite men getting hit by high winds and rain. Thunder and lightning approaches! pic.twitter.com/RpOvGeiL9t
— Canadian Cycling Mag (@CanadianCycling) June 26, 2022
The next fellows to try to fly the coop were Miles, Evan Pauly, Ethan Sittlington and Will Goodfellow, the latter the only elite rider. By Lap 6 Sittlington and Goodfellow had fallen back and Perry, Boivin, and Coté had bridged over to the remnants as hail began to rattle off helmets. Toronto Hustle’s Matteo Dal-Cin, the 2017 champion, pulled the pursuit.
With four laps to go, the Boivin and Coté quartet had a minute’s advantage, one it held for another 14.4 km circuit. Pauly was dropped and the gap dipped to 40-seconds going into the final two laps, the sun having returned. A trio attempted to reach the foursome on the bell lap to no avail.
Coté and Boivin attacked the others and would battle their way across the line nine seconds ahead of Perry and 27 seconds before the new U23 champ.
Coté was also third on Thursday’s time trial.
Elite Men
1) Pier-André Coté (Human Powered Health) 3:38:50
2) Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
3) Benjamin Perry (WIV Sungod) +0:09
U23 Men
1) Carson Miles (Premier Tech U23 Project) 3:39:17
2) Nicolas Rivard (Premier Tech U23 Project) +0:04
3) Riley Pickrell (Israel Cycling Academy) s.t.