Roth wins Canadian criterium title

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The Canadian Road Nationals concluded, appropriately, on July 1st Canada Day, with the criterium. Ryan Roth (X-Speed United) took the elite men's title for the new Continental squad, X-Speed United.

The 1.3-kilometre circuit was a four left turn rectangle, with the most prominent feature the final 200-metre climb to the finish line.

Constant attacks in the opening laps of the men's race quickly whittled the field down, with only 25 of 119 starters finishing after 60 minutes (plus three laps) of racing.

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Evan Burtnik (X-Speed United) and Robin Plamondon (Floyd's Pro Cycling) were the first to make a break stick at the halfway point in the race, and they were joined by Charles Etienne Chretien (Equipe du Quebec) and Derek Gee (Toronto Velodrome Club). Finally, Roth, Pierre Andre Cote (Rally UHC) and Alex Cowan (Floyd's Pro Cycling) jumped across to make up the rest of the group.

With the major teams represented, there was little incentive for the small remaining peloton to chase, and these seven riders became the race for the medals. Roth bided his time in the last ten laps as others made break attempts, launching a powerful move with a lap to go, and hanging on to win the title. Plamondon got a slight gap on the others to win silver, with Cote taking the final podium spot.

"It's a really hard course," said Roth. "About halfway in the front group started to get a bigger gap and become more dangerous. So Alex Cowan, Pier Andre Cote and myself bridged and that became the breakaway. We worked pretty well as a group to get a solid gap, but then we all started to play our cards for the win. Pierre Andre is a really fast sprinter, so my whole idea was to put pressure on him. After [Cote] put in a big dig, Derek [Gee] countered it and then everyone just sat up a tiny bit and I went from there."

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