Roth wins Canadian national championship over Barry

Ryan Roth (Team SpiderTech) will proudly bear the maple leaf jersey for the next year following his victory in the road race at the 2012 Canadian Road Championships, which were held in Lac-Megantic.

Antoine Duchesne (Garneau-Quebecor) claims for his part the Canadian champion’s jersey in the U23 category.

Riders with Team Spidertech, with a full contingent, were seen as favorites before the start of the race. They also placed four riders in a breakaway that held on for a hundred of the 180 kilometers that the race lasted. The break even took a lead of six minutes before the peloton decided to close the gap.

The work of Michael Barry (Team Sky), Dominique Rollin (FDJ-Big Mat), Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Christian Meier (Orica GreenEDGE), all world class riders, managed to close the gap. David Veilleux (Europcar) has also done extensive work in the bunch, but a flat tire made him lose precious time.

After the seven climbs of the Mount Morne, riders headed back to the municipality of Lac-Megantic with a breakaway of four riders led by Michael Barry. The latter has been very active throughout the race and it was finally at the finish line that the race was decided, with Roth taking the win with a one second lead (4:35:21) on Barry, while Marsh Cooper (Optum-Kelly Benefit) crossed the line in third with the same time for third place.

“It was so tight at the finish line,” said the new Canadian champion. “I did not even raise my arms for fear of being passed. It's always hard to do a sprint finish, and I wanted the victory. When the peloton decided to react to catch the breakaway, the tempo became very high with the work of Tuft, Barry, Rollin, and Veilleux. When Michael decided to take the lead, I followed him. He worked very hard. With four of our guys in the break, there was Michael and I could try something in the mountain.”

In the U23 race, Antoine Duchesne, also fourth in the Elite race, savored his victory that completed an all-Quebec podium in the category, with David Boily (SpiderTech) in second place and Hugo Houle (Spidertech) in third.

“It's been four years since I had not won, so this win is very satisfying. I was a little apprehensive at first because I was not feeling well, I had stomach pain. But as the race progressed, I felt better and when we returned to town, I felt fine. When I had the opportunity to breakaway, I did it with François Parisien and Nic Hamilton. At six or seven kilometers from the finish, I went alone on a hill and I keep this position to the end. Fourth place among the Elite and a Canadian title in the U23, I could not ask for a better day.”

Results

* = U23