Svein proves Tuft to beat

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Svein Tuft (Garmin-Transitions) repeated as men's elite time trial champion while Hugo Houle (Equipe Quebec) took the Under 23 men's title. Tuft was the favourite by far, with most of the field virtually conceding the win to him.

Back to Canada after a spring of racing on the ProTour circuit, including the Giro d'Italia, Tuft was unstoppable, finishing nearly two minutes up on second place Zach Bell (Kelly Benefit Strategies), and close to three minutes ahead of bronze medalist Ryan Roth (SpiderTech-Planet Energy).

Ed Veal (La Bicicletta) set the first sub 53 minute time, but was soon surpassed by Andrew Randell (SpiderTech-Planet Energy), at 52:32.7 . Randell's time was eventually good enough for 11th, before Nic Hamilton (Trek Red Truck-Mosaic Homes) dropped the leading time below 52 minutes.

The times continued to drop slowly until François Parisien (SpiderTech-Planet Energy) put in a very strong 51:15, which held up until the final three riders came through the finish line. Ryan Roth (SpiderTech-Planet Energy) knocked eight seconds off the top time, but was immediately supplanted by Bell, nearly a minute faster at 50:12.3 .

However, Bell knew that his time in the lead was very limited - Tuft had already made up a minute and five seconds of the two minute gap by the turn around, and looking over his shoulder at the finish he could see his former Symmetrics teammate powering to the line, only 10 seconds back. Tuft's time was a very impressive 48:23.1 .

Bell was not unhappy with his second place. "For the last three years I've finished third," he commented. "Two years ago, Svein caught me before the turn, and last year a little after the turn, so just to avoid getting caught is a big accomplishment."

Tuft pointed to having Bell as his 'rabbit', as a factor in his phenomenal ride, as well as having an opportunity to spend some time on his TT bike. "Zach was very strong today, and it gave me the best possible rider to chase. The other thing is that I've actually had some time now to ride my TT bike, which we don't usually get to do. Usually, we are either racing or resting, so this has been a real bonus for me to be able to practice and prepare like this."

The time trials were held in the town of Devon, south and west of Edmonton, Alberta. While most of the surrounding country is flat, race organisers managed to find an out and back course that included a tough descent and climb out of a river valley. In addition to the valley, which the riders had to climb out of in both directions, headwinds on the outward leg added to the difficulty.

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