SpiderTech nation
Bauer's Pro Continental squad dominates national championships, sweeps elite men's podium with Tuft on top step
Team SpiderTech came to the 2011 IMMUNITY-FX Canadian Road Cycling Championships with nothing less than victory as the goal. After 14 laps of a challenging course in Milton, Ontario, Svein Tuft crossed the line as the elite men’s champion while teammates Will Routley and Zach Bell rolled in behind him. What took place between the 4 p.m. start and that finish was an absolute lesson in team riding.
After a fast-paced start, which included a dramatic first-lap crash at the bottom of the fastest part of the course, the SpiderTech train took control on the second lap – sending a handful of riders into a break. By the third lap, the race-winning move would be established. Defending champion Routley, World Track champion Bell and sprinter Keven Lacombe, all from SpiderTech were up front with Bissell’s Rob Britton. Britton was forced to do much of the work while, in the chasing group in behind, much of the rest of the SpiderTech crew could relax while Dominique Rollin, Christian Meier and David Veilleux tried to bring the field back together.
Lap after lap, the three pro riders kept the pace high trying to chase while the leading foursome maintained a lead that varied between a minute and 2:30. Rollin dropped out with three laps remaining – the result of a broken bike earlier in the race and some mechanical misfortunes (see video below) but the chase continued.
As the chasing group was whittled down to 11 riders, Tuft blasted off the front and bridged the more than minute-wide gap to the lead group. He essentially traded spots with Lacombe as the sprinter came to a stop near the start/finish line to wait for the chasers.
On the second-to-last lap, Routley and Hall attacked and opened up a gap – building it up to a 30-second advantage on the final trip around the course. Behind them, Tuft got away from Britton and then, as his teammates slowed, he caught them on the final climb. As the three teammates headed into the final 200 metres, they rode side by side until the very end, when Routley and Bell sat up, allowing Tuft to cross the line first. Afterwards, the team celebrated all together with director Steve Bauer. Tuft, who won the Time Trial title on Thursday but had never won a Canadian road title, credited his team with helping him take the win.
“I’ve been second a couple of times so this is really big for me, but it’s more how the team executed. Will and Zach rode amazing. It shows the calibre of these guys and they gave me a tremendous gift. I can’t thank them enough,” Tuft said.
Adding to SpiderTech’s success Saturday was the fact that the chasing group contained a number of U-23 riders, who were racing for their own separate title. Hugo Houle, who won the U23 time trial championship Thursday, narrowly won the field sprint ahead of Team Quebec’s Arnaud Papillon.
The finish:
Steve Bauer’s thoughts on controlling the race:
Rob Britton admitted he was disappointed to not come away from the race with a medal of some sort:
