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Ryan Roth wins Canadian Road Championships

Michael Barry and Marsh Cooper round out the podium.

Ryan Roth (SpiderTech p/b C10) won the Elite road race title at the Cold-FX Canadian Road Championships p/b Canadian Tire on Saturday in Lac Megantic, Quebec. He out-sprinted his breakaway companions Michael Barry (Sky Procycling) in second and Marsh Cooper (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) in third.

“I wasn’t confident about winning the sprint,” Roth said. “But I rode the way we planned and it worked out. Michael made the move on the last circuit to go over and I tagged on. It was impressive. He continued to attack.”

The Elite/U23 Men completed seven hilly circuits that included one decisive climb up Mont Morne each lap, for a total of 180 km. They raced out 40 km to the circuit, completed the seven laps, and raced 40 km back to the finish line in Lac Megantic.

Barry was a surprise competitor on the start line. He won the national title as an Espoir, but never as an Elite. Although he has been racing internationally for over a decade, he rarely competed in the national championships. Michael Barry Sr. also attended the event in support of his son.

I knew it would be a challenge because SpiderTech has a strong team here, so it was up to the Pro Tour riders to make a race of it, said Barry. He added: we rode hard to bring back the break; with about a minute gap I went over. In the last 25 km, I tried to whittle down the break group, but there were still a number of SpiderTech riders there. Ryan was in a good position; he sat on and he beat me in the sprint.

SpiderTech had strength in numbers during this championship road race. They had seven riders that included Roth, Hugo Houle, who won the U23 time trial championships, Guillaume Boivin, Martin Gilbert, Keven Lacombe, Francois Parisien, Will Routley and Ryan Anderson.

Other full teams include Garneau-Quebecor-Norton Rose, Deda-Hype, Ekoi.com-Gaspesien, Suarez-ACQ, Cycling B.C., Ride with Rendall, Trek Red Truck-Mosaic Homes.

The first breakaway included Sebastian Salas (Optum-KBS), Jean-Michel LaChance (Rossetti Devo), Will Routley (SpiderTech), Nic Hamilton and Remi Pelletier-Roy (Garneau-Quebecor). Ryan Anderson (SpiderTech) and Rob Britton (H&R Block) were the next to try an early move.

A significant breakaway rolled off the front of the field 40 km into the race that included Britton and Anderson along with David Stephens (Garneau), Marsh Cooper (Optum-KBS), Derrick St. John (Stevens), Bruce Bird (Wheels of Bloor) and Will Routley, Martin Gilbert and David Boily (SpiderTech).

The breakaway gained a maximum of nearly six minutes during the first portion of the race. It wasn’t long before Barry and other top-notch pros David Veilleux (Europecar), Dominique Rollin (FDJ-BigMat), SveinTuft and Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) got on the front of the field to reduce that gap down to a more manageable three minutes, mid-race.

Over the last climb, Routley, Cooper and Britton attacked their breakaway companions. Gilbert and Anderson were able to bridge across to them on the descent. The breakaway came back together with the addition of bridgers Barry, Roth and Salas on the way back to Lac Megantic.

The breakaway split again, this time with Barry on the front followed by Britton, Cooper, Salas and Roth with 20 km to go. Barry attacked his breakaway companions several times dropping Salas and Britton in the process. But Cooper and Roth were able to hang on.

Optum’s Cooper said during the first part of the race he was just trying to stay safe on his bike as the rain lashed down on the peleton. However, he managed to be able to do a bit more than that just survive, earning something that will definitely make rainy riding days a bit more special.

Official Results

Top three Elite

1. Ryan Roth (SpiderTech p/b C10)

2. Michael Barry (Sky Procycling)

3. Marsh Cooper (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies)

U23

Antoine Duchesne (Garneau-Quebecor)