Gallery: 10th edition of the Giro di Burnaby
Allison Beveridge takes a big win as men's race is decided from three-man breakaway
Rise Racing's Carrie Cartmill raced aggressively throughout. Photo: Scott Robarts
Alison Beverige of Rally Pro Cycling was calm in the chase group. Photo: Scott Robarts.
In the end it came down to a sprint finish. Canadian road champion Allison Beverige took the win with Leah Kirchman second. Photo: Scott Robarts
Photo By: Scott Robarts
The effort of trying to catch the breakaway group shows on the faces of chasers. Photo: Scott Robarts
Campbell Stewart of Cycling New Zealand won from a three man breakaway. Photo: Scott Robarts
Olympic bronze medalist and 2017 Canadian road champion Allison Beveridge won the 10th edition of the Giro di Burnaby on Thursday July 13 at BC Superweek. The Calgary native who rides for Rally Cycling sprinted to victory ahead of Leah Kirchmann and Australian Josie Talbot riding for ISCorp powered by Progress.
In the men’s race, Campbell Stewart riding for Cycling New Zealand won ahead of Australian Liam Magennis of the New South Wales Institute of Sport. American Brendan Rhim of Holowensko Citadel was third. The trio escaped with less than 15 laps to go in the 50 lap, 57 km circuit race and held on to contest the win.
Rally’s women squad have had a strong BC Superweek with Kirsti Lay taking the win at the New West Grand Prix and the team racing aggressively to take the second and third step on the podium at the Gastown Grand Prix on Wednesday with Sara Bergen in second and Beveridge third. Beveridge was also second at the MK Delta Lands Criterium in North Delta last Friday.
.@Alli_Bev keeps the team's @BC_Superweek win streak going with victory in the @GirodiBurnaby!
— Rally Cycling (@Rally_Cycling) July 14, 2017
“We were just trying to read the race and put in digs, and even if things weren’t going to get away, we just tried to put a bit of pressure on,” explained Beveridge. “All these girls have been so great, and we’ve had quite a few different riders on the podium – it’s a lot of fun to come out here and race. I think everyone kind of questions who’s sprinting on which day because we have so many sprinters and so many cards to play, and it’s just been a really fun week.”
Leah Kirchmann finished second in the sprint, her first podium of the 2017 BC Superweek but riding without a team it’s hard to be well set up to contest victories as a result she was on the look out for attacks in Burnaby. “It was pretty aggressive all day, but after halfway through the race I noticed most of the sprinter teams were trying to keep it together. From that point, I just knew I should probably try to conserve and go all in for the sprint,” she said.
In the men’s race, the trio of Stewart, Magennis and Rhim broke away working well together to stay away on the short 1.14 km course. “I guess I just kind of picked some strong guys. They were awesome out there and just the way that we worked together was perfect,” said the winner 19-year-old Stewart. “I think we had a few head looks during the last four to five laps. We just looked around at each other, sussing each other out and seeing what was going to happen. I guess we were pretty far cooked by then so it took a while to get to the finish, but it was good.”
BC Superweek continues on Friday with the PoCo Grand Prix. The women’s race starts at 6:45 pm PDT and the men begin at 7:50 pm PDT. BC Superweek concludes with the Tour de White Rock from July 15 to 16.
