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Quebec’s Santé Universelle/Marin Bikes team to return in 2016 after a successful first season in 2015

For Gatineau, Que.'s Santé Universelle/Marin Bikes pro cycling team, 2015 has proven to be a resoundingly successful first season.

Emile Jean (right) took third for the team at the Quebec championships road race. (Image: Twitter)
Emile Jean (right) took third for the team at the Quebec championships road race. (Image: Twitter)

For Gatineau, Que.’s Santé Universelle/Marin Bikes cycling team, 2015 has proven to be a resoundingly successful first season. Now, with that first year under its collective rubber, the team has announced that it will be back for a second competitive round in 2016 — with big plans for the immediate future, too.

Those plans, say team director Frederick Gates, involve making a leap into the UCI Continental ranks for 2017, making Santé Universelle the first Gatineau team ever to claim a UCI Continental Level license.

It’s a tall order, but with such a successful 2015 behind the team — the Tour de Beauce comes to mind, as well as the Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau — Gates believes his squad is more than up to the challenge. “We have had an exceptional first year,” he said, in a release published by the team. “Our cyclists achieved key results during important races all year. We even surprised the international cycling peloton during the Tour de Beauce when Gatineau rider Jean-Sebastien Perron finished in 8th place. Jean-Sebastien was also exceptional durin the hometown Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau, where he took third place at the nationally sanctioned men’s road race.”

Perron, of course, certainly wasn’t the only rider to boast such high honours this year.

Emile Jean was another, whose performance as an under-23 rider at the Canadian championships earned him bronze in the individual time trial, an achievement he added to shortly thereafter with a time trial win at the Quebec championships, as well as a third-place finish in the road race. Ben Andrew also enjoyed a breakout season, breaking crucial ground with the team’s first podium win at the Hell of the South in Tennessee. He also won the season’s final Ontario Cup race.

The team’s prominence steadily rising throughout the season, Santé Universelle/Marin Bikes saw other names added to the roster as 2015 progressed, including American Chad Beyer and Barbados national champion Darren Matthews. Now, with a 2015 that amounts to the best of good starts behind it, 2016 will see Santé Universelle/Marin Bikes continue to develop through a calendar of prestigious, high-profile races. When 2017 rolls around, with those plans to achieve UCI Continental standing, the team’s priorities simple: go pro.

“We want to attract new businesses to join our group of partners by showing them the potential visibility that we can offer,” Gates said, “not only in the National Capital region, but all over North America.”

Santé Universelle/Marin Bikes’s full 2016 roster will be revealed in the coming weeks.