Weekend racing roundup: Houle 13th at P-N, Rochette wins, Dal Cin wins, Jackson podiums
The season is in full swing
Photo by:
@TorontoHustle
There was a bunch of bike racing this weekend, with some fantastic Canadian results. Paris-Nice concluded on Sunday, the Cactus Cup was back on in the USA, as well as Ronde van Drenthe in the Netherlands.
Paris-Nice
Last March, Hugo Houle scored his greatest career WorldTour stage race GC with 13th in Tirreno-Adriatico, and on Sunday the lone Israel-Premier Tech rider left in the 80th edition of Paris-Nice matched that high mark. Primož Roglič, who crashed out of the Paris-Nice yellow in last year’s wet finale, survived a late scare on Sunday courtesy of Simon Yates to take his first Race to the Sun.
The final route of the 80th Paris-Nice contained five climbs spread out evenly over 115 km. Three Cat. 2 ascents led to two Cat. 1 climbs in the final half: Montee de Peille at 6.6 km of 6.8 percent and Col d’Èze, 6 km at 7.7 percent and peaking 15.5 km from the line in Nice. It was a rainy day.
Roglič went into Sunday leading Yates by 47 seconds and Dani Martinez by a minute, with Martinez’s Ineos teammate and Yates’ twin Adam +1:50.
By the end of the third Cat. 2 there was no breakaway, with Jumbo-Visma pulling the pack. Ineos grabbed the reins on the first Cat. 1, popping riders off the back of the pack. Martinez made a thrust with Wout Van Aert and Roglič able to join him. Nairo Quintana and Simon Yates bridged over too and the Belgian led the quintet down the long descent. Roglič tempted fate by taking off his leg warmers on the downhill. Martinez punctured and could not chase back on.
Yates tipped over with a 25-second lead. The Brit’s lead fell as Van Aert continued to be the engine. Yates would take the stage victory, but he couldn’t make up enough time to steal Roglič’s crown.
The next WorldTour stage race is the Volta a Catalunya, which begins on March 21.
2022 Paris-Nice Stage 8
1) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange-Jayco)
2) Wout Van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) +0:09
3) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) s.t.
25) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +6:34
2022 Paris-Nice GC
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 29:19:15
2) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange-Jayco) +0:29
3) Dani Martinez (Colombia/Ineos) +2:37
13) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +11:42
Ronde van Drenthe
The second round of the Women’s World Tour unfolded in dramatic fashion on Saturday in The Netherlands. Ronde van Drenthe settled in a sprint finish, after a spicy set of final kilometers.
Canada’s Alison Jackson and Leah Kirchmann were on the line, with Jackson rolling to a top-20 finish.
A heated pace up the VAMBerg splintered the lead group, with the numbers on the front briefly dwindling down to just 10. Several riders were able to rejoin and the front group swelled to just over 20 before four riders went off the front with 10km to go. The quartet quickly built an advantage over the chasers.
Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM), defending champion, was part of the chase group. Leaving it late, the chasers came back to the four person breakaway with 1km to go. While Women’s World Tour leader Lotto Kopecky (SD Worx) was in the group, it was world champion Elisa Balsame (Trek-Segafredo) that came closest to de-throning Wiebes.
Wiebes opened her sprint and the aggressive tactic paid off. The Team DSM rider repeats as Ronde van Drenthe champion for 2022.
Drentse acth van Westervelt
Canadian road national champion Alison Jackson landed her first podium of 2022 on Friday. The Liv Racing Xstra Olympian was second in the Drentse acth van Westervelt.
Christine Majerus (SD Worx) won Drentse acth van Westervelt, a C1.2 prelude to Saturday’s Ronde van Drenthe Women’s World Tour race.
Jackson and Majerus were in a select group of four, after the Westervelt peloton was split by crosswinds on the way to the finish line in Dwingeloo. Jackson led out the four-up sprint, with a tail wind at her back. The Luxembourg national champion passed the Canadian at the line to take her first win at Westervelt. Floortje Mackaij (Team DSM) rounded out the podium in third.
South Aegean Tour
Toronto Hustle started its season as a Continental team with a bang with Matteo Dal-Cin taking the overall classification at the two-day race in Greece. Dal Cin took second on the first stage, as well as the KOM jersey, then followed up with a win on the second day.
The new rider on the team capped off the weekend by winning the final general classification, beating German Luca
Luca Dreßler (Lotto Kern Haus) and French rider Alexis Guerin (Team Vorarlberg.)
Cactus Cup
After three days of racing in Fountain Hills, Arizona, Maghalie Rochette emerged victorious at the 2022 Cactus Cup. The Canadian cross star, who recently announced she will be racing select mountain bike events again in 2022, was on the podium all three days to take the GC win.
Rochette (Specialized-Feedback Sports) started with a win in Friday’s off-road time trial. She backed that up with a second place behind U.S. Olympian Chloe Woodruff on Saturday. Rochette then solidified her GC win by topping the results of Sunday’s enduro.
Woodruff held onto second overall, narrowly staying ahead of a hard-charging Alexis Skarda. Canada’s Haley Smith (Maxxis Factory Racing) and Cindy Montambault finished sixth and 10th overall at the 2022 Cactus Cup.
On the men’s side, Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing) held off Arizona local Kyle Trudeau and Russell Finsterwald to win the 2022 Cactus Cup.
Geoff Kabush (Yeti-Maxxis) rode consistently all weekend to finish fourth. Andrew L’Esperance (Maxxis Factory Racing) rounded out the extended podium in fifth.
