Cycling Canada announces NextGen, Team RaceClean rosters for 2017

Cycling Canada has announced the roster of both new and returning athletes to its NextGen Men’s Track Endurance and Team RaceClean programs for 2017 — programs that, thus far, have proven to burn a fair deal of rubber in setting Canada’s prestigious reputation in the saddle.

Many of the riders responsible for that success, in the three years since the programs were established in 2014, will feature on next years roster.

When the NextGen Men’s Track Endurance Program — the standard-bearer of Cycling Canada’s track ambitions—was introduced in 2014, the idea was simple: to refine a generation of medal contenders for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Thus far, that target is well in the squad’s sights. This year, NextGen athletes clocked Canada’s first-ever sub-four minute time at the Pan American Track Championships, an achievement that was followed up by both a finish in the top 10 at the track World Cup and a 12th-place finish at the 2016 UCI track world championships. Contention in Tokyo remains an ambitious goal but the young program continues to show promising development.

The same can be said of road riders on the Team RaceClean roster.

Several high-profile results set Canadian athletes a head above the rest on the asphalt, including top-five and top-10 finishes at Luxembourg’s Fleche du Sud, the Tour de La Manche in France, and an overall title at Ronde van Oost Vlaanderen in Belgium. Canadian athletes were also enshrined on the domestic level, with championships in the U23 men’s individual time trial at road nationals, as well as further international accolades with RaceClean riders selected to carry the maple leaf at the road world championships in Doha, Qatar.

Though Alec Cowan, Sean Mackinnon and Adam Jamieson will be leaving the Canadian ranks next year to pursue other opportunities, the prestigious reputation of Canadian track and road cycling will continue to be on display on the world stage in 2017. Riders will include:

Returning riders:
Willem Boersma – Portage La Prairie, Man.
Evan Burtnik – Edmonton
Aidan Caves – Vancouver
William Elliott – Barrie, Ont.
Jay Lamoureux – Victoria
Bayley Simpson – Lindsay, Ont.
Edward Walsh – Halifax

New riders:
Derek Gee – Ottawa
Thierry Kirouac-Marcassa – Boucherville, Que.
John Willcox – Victoria

Staff:
Luc Arseneau – National road development coach
Ian Melvin – NextGen MTE coach
Emily Wood – Physiologist