Gallery: The Sneaky Fox pounces as Piccoli’s brave solo attempt just falls short

Adam de Vos has been knocking at the door of a big result at nationals for a number of years now as one of Canada’s strongest and most consistent riders who is willing to attack to make things happen. On Sunday, de Vos won the elite Canadian championship road race earning the opportunity to race in the maple lead for the coming season.

When James Piccoli attacked at nationals in Saint-Georges with over 100 km to race, it threw a wrench in every team’s plan. Bu a hard chase from a group of nine that reduced to seven riders finally resulted in the catch of Piccoli.

Magdeleine Vallières-Mill won the junior women's race solo.

1. Magdeleine Vallières-Mill, 2. Laury Milette 3. Camille Primeau

Rally-UHC had the strongest team with 2014 champion Svein Tuft amoung them.

Boivin and his sizable contingent of supporters.

Lots of orange amoung the call-ups

Bruno Langlois and Rob Britton try to force things on the climb to Saint-Odilon

Ed Walsh trying to bridge across a split on the climb.

Boivin forced the pace the second time up the big climb.

James Piccoli escaped with over 100 km to race.

Behind a chase group formed.

Alexis Cartier gets a feed.

Piccoli had a maximum gap of over 2 minutes.

De Vos and Cartier in the chase.

It was a lovely day for a bike race.

The chase.

Saint-Odilon,

Piccoli holding a TT position on his road bike.

Nine riders eventually became seven chasing Piccoli.

With 10 km to go, Ellsay attacked a Piccoli was caught. De Vos attacked with 3 km to go, bridged across the Ellsay and outsprinted him to the line.

Nick Zukowsky at the Canadian championships.

Cartier outsprinted Piccoli for 4th place.

Piccoli was totally empty upon reaching the finish line.

De Vos, nicknamed the Sneaky Fox,

Road Nationals, 2019. 1. Nick Zukowsky 2. Dereck Gee 3.Evan Burtnik

U23 Canadian champion Nick Zukowsky won the GP Saguenay earlier this year.

1. Adam de Vos 2. Nigel Ellsay 3. Nick Zukowsky

Ellsay attacked with 10 km to go and de Vos followed suit in the final 3 km catching and then passing his teammate in the final metres to take the national title.

“Nigel got away with about 10 kilometres to go so I stayed with Zukowsky and Alexis for a while. At 3 kilometres to go, I attacked in the same spot that I attacked at Tour de Beauce and I made it up to Nigel in the last turn and just rode as hard as I could,” de Vos said about his winning move. “I’ve always wanted to represent Canada in the custom kit that national champions get to wear and I’m so excited to race all over the world and represent Canada and Rally-UHC.”

RELATED: Gallery: Brave solo attacks in the rain pay off at Canadian championships

Nick Zukowsky of Floyd’s Pro Cycling finished third and took the U23 title in the process.

“It’s a super hard course even though it wasn’t necessarily as selective as last year. We started riding harder once we got off the circuit and I felt pretty good but I started to cramp up when Nigel attacked, so I couldn’t follow him and then he was gone,” Zukowsky who was eyeing the elite title said. “It definitely helps when you’ve got family and friends cheering you on, it gives you a little bit of extra motivation.”

Earlier on Sunday, Magdeleine Vallières-Mill who won the junior women’s title trial on Friday and then the crit title on Monday took a solo victory. The Quebec provincial team started the aggression early with four riders breaking away at the start of the race. Vallières-Mill eventually decided to forge ahead solo finishing with a 3 minute gap on second place Laury Milette (Ottawa Bicycle Club) and third place Camille Primeau (Équipe du Québec).

“We started accelerating after the first 10 kilometers and we worked really well together which allowed us to get ahead of the pack and we managed to keep that gap until the end. I’m really happy to have won both races and I feel honored to be able to wear the Canadian champion jersey for the rest of the season.”