Adam Roberge (centre) celebrates on podium as elite men's winner 2024 Canadian Gravel National Championships(Image credit: Cycling Canada / Cody Shimizu @Shimizuimg)
Katja Verkerk celebrates elite women's victory on top step of podium at 2024 Canadian Gravel Championships at Ghost of the Gravel(Image credit: Cody Shimizu - @Shimizuimg)
Adam Roberge (Felt UN1TD) outsprinted Julien Gagné (Équipe Qui Roule) to win the elite men’s title at the Canadian Gravel Championships on Sunday, while Katja Verkerk (Physical Culture Straight Up Cycles) outlasted Haley Smith (Trek Driftless) to take the elite women’s gravel national title.
The 118km course featured a clockwise loop in western Alberta with 6,800 feet of climbing, the highest point of the route hitting at the half-way point and climbing to 5,400 feet above sea level. Rolling hills prevailed throughout a cold, wet and rainy day.
"It was hard from the beginning and with the weather, it was hard to draft,” said Roberge in a Cycling Canada media release. “I figured being patient would be better with that type of course."
After the third and final feed zone with 30km to go, Roberge and Gagné had made separation with Michael van den Ham (Giant Cycling) at the front of the race. Van den Ham was dropped with 5km to go. In the final kilometres on the pavement, Roberge rushed to the line for the win in 3:44:31, three seconds ahead of Gagné. Van den Ham held on to third place, 44 seconds back.
Verkerk came into the gravel championships after a spring of road racing, where she had stage wins at Valley of the Sun Stage Race and Tucson Bicycle Classic in Arizona in category 4 and 3 divisions, respectively. The Victoria, British Colombia rider took the solo victory in 4:37:45, 2:54 in front of Smith. Anna Gabrielle Traxler was third, another one minute back.
“I’m new to racing, so I don’t know anyone,” Vervek said in the media release. “I tried to follow the first five to ten wheels and I followed an attack from a rider I followed for a while, until she had a mechanical, where I could pass her. I wasn't expecting to put a Canadian jersey on today, so it’s kind of crazy.”
This year’s nationals were part of Ghost of the Gravel weekend, an hour from Calgary in Water Valley. The same 118km course, called the Scary Ghost, was used for other start waves for recreational fondo riders. Last year the gravel nationals were held in Ontario.
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Results - elite women top 5
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Pos.
Rider
Time
1
Katja Verkerk (Physical Culture Straight Up Cycles)
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. On the bike, she has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast), and spends time on gravel around horse farms in north Georgia.
