Beveridge wins women's time trial

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Julie Beveridge (Equipe Vienne Futuroscope) took both the Under 23 and elite titles for the women.

The women’s battle was expected to be between defending champion Tara Whitten (Specialized Mazda Samson G Conseil) and Beveridge, with former champion Anne Samplonius (Vera Bradley Foundation) and Webcor's Erinne Willock also potential podium contenders.

Leah Kirchman (Trek Red Truck-Mosaic Homes) set the first sub 31:30 time, and it steadily dropped by a few seconds at a time until Veronique Bilodeau (Equipe Quebec) was the first to go under 30 minutes at 29:45.4, which would be good enough to win her the silver medal in the Under 23 category. Willock, eighth from last, dropped the best time to 29:09.1 which held until the final three riders began to come, all below 29 minutes.

Samplonius was the third from the end, and took the lead with 28:53.3, but Beveridge was right behind her, and 2.3 seconds faster. The only possible change was an even faster ride by Whitten, and it look like she might pull it off. At the halfway mark, Whitten was fastest by 20.2 seconds, and as she entered the descent of the river valley, with approximately five kilometres to go, she was still up by 13 seconds.

However, the final climb proved to be the deciding factor, with Whitten losing 11 of the those seconds to Beveridge's superior climbing skills, and then conceding even more in the last rolling three kilometres to the line, eventually taking third, 5.5 seconds down on Beveridge.

"I knew that this course suited me [more than last year]," commented Beveridge. "The climbs were harder than you realized, and I have been doing a lot of climbing this year, especially at Tour de l'Aude."

Whitten was clearly disappointed to lose the title she has held for the past two years. "This year the course didn't suit me as well as previously,” she said. “I'm more of a power rider, so the flatter, rolling courses are better for me. All I could try to do was to limit my losses on the climbs, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough.”

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.