Canadian entrants for UCI Cross Vegas and Jingle Cross announced
The Canadians who will be representing their trade teams at the first two rounds of the UCI World Cup have been announced
With the 2016/2017 cyclocross season set to kick off at Cross Vegas on Sept. 21, the Canadian entrants have been announced for the first two UCI Telenet cyclocross World Cups. Jingle Cross in Iowa City on Sept. 24 was added to the World Cup circuit for the coming season making it the second North American race to make it onto the top level circuit after CrossVegas debuted in the World Cup in 2015.
Nations can enter eight athletes in the elite races with the Cyclo-Cross Working Group making the selection based off of the applications that meet the criteria in the Cyclo-cross Program and Selection Policy. In the elite women’s race at CrossVegas on Sept. 21 Canadian national champion Mical Dyck, Sandra Walter, Maghalie Rochette, Cindy Montambault, Olympic bronze medalist in cross country mountain biking Catharine Pendrel, Sidney McGill of the newly announced Focus CX Team Canada, Ashley Barson and Siobhan Kelly will be the Canadians on the start line.
In the men’s race on Sept. 21 veteran Geoff Kabush, Focus CX Team Canada team manager Aaron Schooler, Michael van den Ham, Jeremy Martin, Craig Richey, Mark McConnell and Derek Zandstra will take the start.
Two days later on Sept. 24 the best cyclocross riders in the world will travel to Iowa city for the second World Cup race, Jingle Cross. Dyck, Montambault, Pendrel, McGill, Barson, and Kelly will all be doing the second World Cup race as will under-23 Canadian champion Ruby West and Janna Gillick in the elite women’s race. In the men’s race Kabush, Schooler, van den Ham, Martin, Richey, McConnell, Zandstra will be joined by O’Donnell as the eighth Canadian entrant.
Athletes race in their trade team clothing, not national team kits. It was young Belgian rider Wout Van Aert who won CrossVegas in 2015 and would go on to win the World Championship title. Kateřina Nash won the elite women’s race in Vegas.
View the whole Canadian cyclocross program for the coming season here.
