Quebec places two teams on team relay podium

Team Québec "Numéro Un QC" were the fastest four-member squad during the team relay on Sunday, winning the tightly contested race between Team Ontario to close the 2013 Canadian Cross Country Mountain Bike Championships at Hardwood Ski and Bike, near Barrie, Ontario.

The winning team, comprised of Raphael Gagné, Canadian Eliminator Champion Léandre Bouchard, Antoine Caron and Andréane Lanthier-Nadeau as the female rider, came out on top of the large group of 10 teams in the championships category.

Team Numéro Un QC took off along with Team Ontario right from the start, and both teams controlled the front of the race right from the first lap. Throughout the four-lap race, the two teams exchanged leads a few times before the final stretch, when Antoine Caron outsprinted Cameron Jette of Team Ontario at the finish line to take Québec’s first ever team relay victory at Canadian Championships.

In second place came the defending Canadian Champions of Team Ontario (Mitch Baily, Peter Disera, Amanda Sin and Antoine Caron), followed by "Deux c’est mieux QC", the second team from Québec (Alexandre Vialle, Raphael Auclair, Frédérique Trudel and Patrick Chartrand).

The team relay has been on the permanent Canadian Championships program for a third consecutive year, and has now been held five times at the event. Ontario teams won three times, with British Columbia and Québec each taking one title.

Canadian nationals will be hosted back at Hardwood Ski and Bike for a second consecutive time after the successful hosting of this year’s edition.

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