Men’s Nationals Road Race – an exciting race coming up!

Men’s Nationals Road Race – an exciting race coming up!

We’ve got an exciting weekend of racing coming up with the Canadian Road Nationals in Lac Megantic, Quebec. The course will be challenging once again this year, with a 2km climb each lap pitching up to as much as 10% towards the top.

Of course the favourites have to be the SpiderTech p/b C10 team since they will have a solid 11-man roster in the race. The difficulty for them will be that everyone expects them to control the race, a challenge they are up to from the looks of their ride in the Tour de Beauce this past week. Several members of the team (Boily, Boivin, Routley and Anderson) competed in the Tour de Suisse last week, which will definitely help with their form – so long as they can manage their fatigue.

Also coming from the Tour de Suisse is Michael Barry from team Sky, who hasn’t made an appearance at Nationals since 2003 whey they were in Hamilton. Michael is returning to racing after having crashed early in the season. He rode well in Switzerland which indicates that his fitness is good.

Barry, along with Veilleux, Tuft, Meier and Rollin all ride on Pro Tour teams (the best teams in the world) and will add an interesting dimension to the tactics that play out in the road race.

Also on form are Bruno Langlois of Garneau-Quebecor-Norton Rose,and Marsh Cooper of Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies who finished one-two on the final stage of Tour de Beauce. Bruno is a perennial performer at Nationals and with good form is surely a danger man.

One thing is for use, Nationals is not like other races. The dynamic is completely different which alters the tactics and approach needed to win the race. Other than SpiderTech p/b C10 members most of the racers don’t have teammates to rely on. This means that getting into the breakaway of the day is important. If they distance you too much because no one wants to work in the field then your day is done. The break will have to be favourable for a SpiderTech victory, and the key for everyone else will be to get into that move with right combination of riders that rolls away.

Look at the list of riders competing, check out their results and you start to get a good idea of the depth starting to develop in men’s Canadian cycling. Nationals will be an exciting event and hopefully the Canadian jersey will be showcased in Europe once again next season.

Recently retired from professional cycling, Andrew Randell has taken up a management/rider development role with the Jet Fuel/La Bicicletta team for 2012 and opened up his coaching services to the public. Reach him at arcoaching@gmail.com.