Boivin takes shared bronze at U-23 Worlds
Canadian crosses the line in a dead heat with USA's Taylor Phinney
Quebec’s Guillaume Boivin won a bronze medal Friday at the UCI U-23 World Road Cycling Championships in Australia, where he crossed the line at exactly the same time as Taylor Phinney, of the USA, who won the U-23 Time Trial title Wednesday.
At the end of the animated 159 km race, Australian Michael Matthews won a mass field sprint to take the gold in front of the home crowd with Germany’s John Degenkolb clearly in second. But the battle for third wasn’t so easy to determine. Boivin and Phinney both threw their bikes to the line and even the finish-line photos couldn’t determine the winner. as a result, the UCI made the extremely rare decision to award two bronze medals.
Steve Bauer, Boivin’s director sportif on Team SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy, watched the race online from St. Catharines and said he was thrilled to see the result.
“Before the race began, we knew Guillaume had a chance to win,” he said. “I am sure he will be reviewing this last kilometre in his mind until next year’s Worlds.” Bauer said he was also pleased with the performance of David Boily, another SpiderTech rider who finished 16th. Another Canadian, Arnaud Papillon, finished 22nd while Hugo Houle was 93rd.
In addition, Bauer announced Friday that Boivin’s contract with SpiderTech had been extended for the next two seasons. Team SpiderTech is currently registering for a Division 2 license, which would give them Pro Continental status in 2011.
