CANADIAN ROAD CYCLING TEAM IMPRESSES IN BEAUCE
Christian Meier and Svein Tuft third and fourth in General classification
(St. Georges de Beauce, QC – June 17, 2012) The Canadian Road Cycling Team took part in the prestigious Tour de Beauce, and emerged as one of the top teams throughout the six-day race, with two of its riders in the Top 5 of the general classification.
The Tour de Beauce is Canada’s premier stage race, and has been running every year since 1986.
Svein Tuft, who rides at the WorldTour level for Team Orica-GreenEDGE, easily won the fourth stage, the individual time trial, and finished the general classification in fourth place, behind winner Rory Sutherlands of Team UnitedHealthCare, Team SpiderTech’s Hugo Houle and his long-time friend and Canadian Cycling Team teammate Christian Meier in third.
Both Tuft and Meier proudly wore the Maple Leaf in this race, taking a small break from riding with their WorldTour team, and helped Canada to finish in third place of the team standings.
Nic Hamilton had a great run for the King of the Mountain in the fifth and sixth stages, taking the provisional lead in the fifth and second last stage, but dropped it on the last day of the competition as Optum Kelly Benefit’s Ken Hanson.
Beauce was not only a platform for Tuft and Meier to excel, but it turned out to be the revelation of Michael Woods, of Ottawa, ON. The 25-year-old rider from Stevens powered by The Cyclery surged in his first international cycling race, and first major stage race, to finish in 20th place of the general classification, and was a favorite among his teammates. At the events, woods turned the heads of many directeur sportifs, and this race could bring a lot of positives down the road for the relatively new cyclist.
Rory Sutherland of Team UnitedHealthcare won the general classification, after taking the provisional lead on the fifth stage, and protected it through the last stage.
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION – 2012 TOUR DE BEAUCE
1. SUTHERLAND, Rory UNITEDHEALTHCARE PRO CYCLING TEAM 19:07:19
2. HOULE, Hugo SPIDERTECH P/B C10) +0:19
3. MEIER, Christian (ÉQUIPE NATIONALE DU CANADA) +0:43
4. TUFT, Svein (ÉQUIPE NATIONALE DU CANADA) +1:06
5. COOKE, Mattew (EXERGY) +1:07
=====
20. WOODS, Michael (ÉQUIPE NATIONALE DU CANADA) +3:58
49. HAMILTON, Nic (ÉQUIPE NATIONALE DU CANADA) 26:13
55. WIGHT, Stuart (ÉQUIPE NATIONALE DU CANADA) 40:47
