Busy day for Canadian pros in Europe

Canadian pros were active at four different events in Europe on Sunday.

A day after finishing 16th in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Saturday, Dominique Rollin helped Francaise des Jeux teammate Yauheni Hutarovich to a second-place finish in the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne semi-classic in Belgium Sunday.

Europcar rider David Veilleux was also on hand and finished alongside Rollin in the peloton. Though Sky rider Michael Barry did the Omloop on Saturday, he didn’t race in Kuurne.

Team Spidertech p/b C10 raced two different events Sunday. The squad that competed in the Giro di Sardegna stayed on the Italian island to do the Classica Sarda in dismal weather — though Svein Tuft, Will Routley and Lucas Euser didn’t start due to illness. The race ended almost before it began, however, when a breakaway of the favourites escaped early and built up a 10-minute lead. By the time the peloton reached the feed zone the commissaires opted to pull them out and none of the Spidertech riders were among the 21 who finished the race.

The second Spidertech squad raced in the hilly Boucles du Sud de l’Ardeche in southeastern France. The team’s top finisher was Ryan Anderson in 38th spot at 1’37”. Next up for the squad are four races in Belgium starting Wednesday.

The highlight of the day was the 18th place of United Healthcare’s Christian Meier in the Classica Almeria in Spain, which finished in a bunch sprint.