Kirchmann crowned Canadian time trial champion

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The 2018 Canadian Road Championships opened on Thursday with the individual time trials, and it was Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb), fresh off the back of riding the Ovo Energy Women's Tour, who took the elite women's title, which was her first since 2014.

Held in the beautiful Saguenay region, north of Quebec City, the 25.14km out-and-back course took the riders on a twisting, rolling course with multiple climbs and gusting crosswinds.

Kirchmann was one of the favourites, along with defending champion Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels Dolmans), Kirsti Lay (Rally Cycling) and Jasmin Duehring (Twenty20 p/b SHO-AIR).

Riding her first time trial of the year, Kirchmann caught her 'minute rider', Sara Poidevin (Rally Cycling) – who went on to win the under-23 title – and finished with a time of 36:12.76, eight seconds ahead of Canuel, with Lay in third and Duehring in fourth.

Rally Cycling swept the U23 podium, with Poidevin joined by teammates Gillian Ellsay and Katherine Maine.

"I'm really happy to be able to claim another title today," said Kirchmann. "I felt super-strong racing the Women's Tour [in the UK], but this was my first time trial of the season, so I didn't know how I was going to recover after the race and the travel from Europe, so I was happy to find that I felt so strong today. It was a really tough course, with climbing the whole way out, and then on the way back it was a headwind, so it still felt like you were climbing."

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