OTTAWA. Leah Kirchmann, racing for Team Canada, won the Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau for the second time in three years on Thursday, holding off Rally UHC riders Allison Beveridge and Krista Doebel-Hickok on a long uphill sprint after 104 kilometres of racing.
The 10th edition of the race through the Gatineau national park, across the Ottawa River from the Canadian capital, took the field of 70 riders on a long, winding climb to a two-lap loop before they dropped back to a short finishing circuit for five laps.
Rally UHC and Team Canada were aggressive on the first major climb, splitting the field in half. Rally put all six of their riders in the lead group, while Team Canada had three. Tibco-SVB had only one rider up front, and the rest of the team led the chase from the second group, but couldn’t quite manage to close the gap.
On the finishing circuit, Rally UHC were aggressive with attacks, but it was pretty clear that the race would come down to a sprint. Kirchmann took the lead out of the final sweeping turn onto the uphill finish, and held off Beveridge to win by a bike length. (cyclingnews.com)
TEN FIRST FINAL CLASSIFICATION (104 KM).
- Leah Kirchmann (Can) 2:45:14
- Allison Beveridge (Can) Rally Uhc Cycling
- Krista Doebel-Hickok (USA) Rally Uhc Cycling
- Ariane Bonhomme (Can)
- Emily Newsom (USA) Team Tibco – Silicon Valley Bank
- Marie Soleil Blais (Can)
- Edwige Pitel (Fra) Cogeas Mettler Look Pro Cycling Team
- Antri Christoforou (Cyp) Cogeas Mettler Look Pro Cycling Team
- Jennifer George (GBr)
- Frederique Larose Gingras (Can)