Tour de l’Abitibi 2012: US Team Leads the Way

Team USA is dominating the Tour de l'Abitibi, one of the most prestigious junior stage races in the world, after four days of racing here in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.

Canadian Cycling Magazine July 19, 2012

If you were just tuning in to watch Thursday afternoon’s fourth stage of the Tour de l’Abitibi on TVgo.ca (which is where you can watch the races live, by the way) you could very well have thought you were watching a team time trial. It wasn’t, of course – there is no TTT here at the Tour de l’Abitibi this year, but what would have confused you would have been the pack of six Team USA riders who were at the front of the peloton for about 80 percent of the 51.2 km stage.

Team USA took all three podium spots for Thursday's evening stage

Turns out the first two days of the tour were simply a warm up for the American national squad, who were happy to let some other competitors stay close in the standings until the domination began at the individual time trial held Thursday morning. First year junior Owen Logan must have missed the morning meeting, because he somehow let Team Canada’s Yohan Patry sneak into sixth place by a four tenths of a second , which meant the US team went first through fifth and seventh, forcing me to write an extra couple of words.

Tour de l’Abitibi: 44 years young

For those not familiar with the event, it’s been a mainstay on the international cycling stage for over four decades now. The UCI Sanctioned junior event is considered the toughest junior stage race here in North America and serves as a proving ground for young cyclists who want to pursue the sport at the highest levels. There are national teams here from the US, Canada, Guatamala, Mexico, Thailand and Columbia. There are 17 other teams including provincial and regional teams from across North America, too. The event began on Monday night with a sprint challenge (one of the six riders from each team competed in this) and continues with a series of challenging stages every day until Sunday.

Intense moments before the start of the time trial

Thanks to his win in the time trial, Taylor Eisenhart is leading the GC, followed by the rest of his US teammates: Gregory Daniel, Alexandre Darville, Logan Owen, Geoffrey Curren and Alexey Vermeulen. Team Canada’s Yohan Patry sits in eighth, with Brandon Etzl in ninth.

To find out more about the Tour de l’Abitibi and for results, go to the event website.

We’ll have more from the race this weekend. Here are few more photos from the first day of racing.

The US team holds all three jerseys: Taylor Eisenhard leads overall, Alexandre Darville holds the sprint jersey and Owen Logan is leading the young rider category.

Mexico's Alberto Ivan Covarrubias Rocha, racing for Major Motion Development, was in second place overall before the time trial

Marc Dufour is part of the neutral service team.

As if they needed any help - there are even US fans along the course to cheer on their teams.

Let me get this straight - we get to use the whole road?

Team Canada's Brandon Etzl is in the top-10 in the GC

Story and photos by Kevin Mackinnon