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Canadians in upcoming race action: Sara Poidevin to defend Colorado Classic title

Houle, Anderson and De Vos stay in Scandinavia for Arctic Tour of Norway

Thursday is a busy day for Canadian pro roadies, as Rally’s Sara Poidevin gets ready to defend her Colorado Classic title; women’s and men’s four-stage contests will run at the same time near the Mile High City. Over in Europe, Hugo Houle of Astana is staying in Scandinavia for the four-day Arctic Tour of Norway, a 2.HC-rated race, while Rally is getting a Canadian reinforcement to bring its Canuck numbers up to three before Thursday’s kick off in Vadsø. Houle was eighth in the recent Tour of Denmark, where Rally’s Ryan Anderson and Adam De Vos both finished in the top 31 places.

Poidovin brings a strong team with compatriots Alison Beveridge and Gillian Ellsay by her side. Rally’s men’s team includes Rob Britton and Nigel Ellsay fresh off the Tour of Utah. Other Canadians in the men’s side of things will be Jelly Belly’s Jack Burke, Elevate-KHS’s James Piccoli and Jordan Cheyne, and Silber’s Ryan Roth, Pier-André Coté, Émile Jean, Travis Damuel and Nicolas Zukowsky.

The first two Colorado stages consist of a circuit course around Vail and then a uphill time trial in the same community. Mountains around Denver are on tap for Saturday before a city course finishes things off on Saturday.

Poidevin was the best young rider in May’s WorldTour Tour of California.

Sara Poidevin forcing the pace in June’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau.

Matteo Dal-Cin joins Anderson and De Vos in Norway after all three contested the 1.1-rated KOGA Slag om Norg in the Netherlands last Saturday.

With all those rugged fjords, the Norwegian race is sure to be a lumpy one. There are rises to the finish lines and hills peaking close to the finishes on all four stages.

The winner will be a new one, as reigning champ Dylan Teuns of BMC is concentrating on the WorldTour one-day race EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg on Sunday and the 2016 winner Gianni Moscon is suspended for striking another rider during the Tour de France. Last year, Antoine Duchesne was the top Canadian, while Anderson was best Canadian in 2016. Both raced for Direct Energie at the time.

Four WorldTour teams–Houle’s Astana, BMC, Katusha and Dimension Data–are in the mix, as are two Pro Continental squads based out of the USA: Rally and Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources.