Quebec’s Sante Universelle/Marin Bikes road team welcomes back veterans, fresh talent for 2016

Quebec squad Sante Universelle/Marin Bikes is welcoming back a few of its star riders for the 2016 season, after many of them enjoyed a stellar 2015—the first year for the Gatineau-based team—riding in its colours.

As recently announced, Jean-Sebastien Perron, Ben Andrew and Robert Hargrove will all be coming back next year.

For Perron, especially, 2015 was a remarkably great season. At the Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau road race, Perron ascended the podium in third place, followed it up with a silver finish at Syracuse, and at the Tour de Beauce, finished eighth. While Spain’s Carlos Barbero Cuesta took the stage win ultimately, Perron was named the best Canadian cyclist at the Beauce—not a bad showing in terms of honours, considering that it happened on Canadian soil.

Ben Andrew also enjoyed a breakout season, with a win at the Ciociaro Criterium Ontario Cup and three other podium finishes, all in third place: the Criterium de Beaharnois, the Hell of the South in Tennessee and the Clarence Rockland Classic. Hargrove, meanwhile, took third at the first stage of Syracuse, while clocking a fourth-place finish in overall standings for the event. His success in 2015, team officials say, will likely make him a key rider when 2016 kicks off, with more and more emphasis placed on that powerfully-demonstrated skill.

Along with the team’s returning roster of talent, Adam Roberge, hailing from Prevost in the Laurentians region of Quebec, will also be saddling up in Sante Uiverselle/Marin Bikes colours this year. 2015 saw the young rider claim the Canadian junior championship in his first year of road racing, after making the transition from mountain biking. He also represented Canada at the World junior championships, rode in the Tour d’Abitibi, and finished the Ronde des Vallees with a 15th-place standing in general classification.

Frederick Gates, the team’s director, sees a future for Roberge that reflects the successes of the squad’s more experienced riders.

“He will be in his first complete year of road racing next year; he will only get better,” Gates said. “With his determination and the support that we will offer him, we believe he can be successful in the U23 and Elite ranks.”