Tuft and Premont top Canadian riders awards

Svein Tuft of Langley, British Columbia, and Marie-Helene Premont of Chateau Richer, Quebec, were chosen by thousands of cycling enthusiasts as the top Male and Female Canadian Cyclists for 2007. The eleventh edition of the poll was conducted by CanadianCyclist.com to recognize the country's best talent.

Premont, who finished second in the World Cup of mountain bike racing, took just over half of first place votes, finishing ahead of Pan Am Games mountain bike gold medalist Catharine Pendrel and national road champion Gina Grain.

Tuft finished the season ranked number one in the international Continental ranking for North and South America, as well as winning the US Open and Tour of Cuba road races. He finished ahead of national mountain bike champion and Pan American cycling champion Geoff Kabush and Dominique Rollin in the poll.

"This year has been the best ever not just for me but for the team," commented the Team Symmetrics rider to CanadianCyclist.com. "It's a real honour for me to get this award, and the US Open win was one of the best days of my life. I couldn't have done it without the boys so I really gotta share this with them."

Read From survivorman to cyclist for more information on Tuft.