(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. Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 19:07:19
2. Hugo Houle (Can) SpiderTech powered by C10 0:19
3. Christian Meier (Can) Équipe Nationale Du Canada 0:43
4. Svein Tuft (Can) Équipe Nationale Du Canada 1:06
5. Matt Cooke (USA) Exergy 1:07
6. Marc de Maar (Aho) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 1:12
7. Francisco Mancebo (Esp) Competitive Cyclist Racing Team 1:17
8. Ryan Roth (Can) SpiderTech powered by C10 1:29
9. Sebastien Salas (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 1:31
10. Rob Britton (Can) Team H&R Block 1:38
11. Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) Team Type 1 Sanofi 2:01
12. Ben Day (Aus) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 2:13
13. Craig Lewis (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 2:55
14. Bruno Langlois (Can) Garneau-Quebecor-Norton Rose 3:18
15. Marsh Cooper (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 3:21
16. Matthias Friedemann (Ger) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 3:30
17. David Clarke (Gbr) Node4 Giordana Racing 3:39
18. Chad Beyer (USA) Competitive Cyclist Racing Team 3:43
19. Michael Torckler (Nzl) Pure Black Racing 3:50
20. Michael Woods (Can) Équipe Nationale Du Canada 3:58
21. Serghei Tvetcov (Mol) Exergy 4:11
22. Antoine Duchesne (Can) Garneau-Quebecor-Norton Rose 4:39
23. Liam Holohan (Gbr) Raleigh GAC 5:13
24. Flavio de Luna (Mex) SpiderTech powered by C10 6:10
25. Taylor Shelden (USA) Competitive Cyclist Racing Team 6:12
26. Chris Butler (USA) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 6:14
27. Adam Farabaugh (USA) Deda/Hype Ski-Velo 6:39
28. Matt Holmes (Gbr) Raleigh GAC 6:41
29. Julian Kyer (USA) Garneau-Quebecor-Norton Rose 6:50
30. Evan Oliphant (Gbr) Raleigh GAC 7:01
31. Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Type 1 Sanofi 7:57
32. Philip Lavery (Irl) Node4 Giordana Racing 8:08
33. Will Clarke (Aus) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 8:48
34. François Parisien (Can) SpiderTech powered by C10 9:20
35. Morgan Schmitt (USA) Exergy 10:35
36. Russel Hampton (Gbr) Raleigh GAC 10:49
37. Max Jenkins (USA) Competitive Cyclist Racing Team 13:40
38. Taylor Gunman (Nzl) Pure Black Racing 13:53
39. Joris Boillat (Sui) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 17:36
40. Brennan Townshend (Gbr) Raleigh GAC 19:31
41. Mark Langlands (Nzl) Garneau-Quebecor-Norton Rose 19:49
42. Thomas Soladay (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 20:13
43. Davide Frattini (Ita) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 21:01
44. Reid Mumford (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 22:38
45. Pierrick Naud (Can) Ekoï.com/Le Gaspésien Pro Cycling Team 23:20
46. Ken Hanson (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 24:55
47. Martin Gilbert (Can) SpiderTech powered by C10 25:15
48. Cody Canning (Can) Trek Red Truck Racing Team p/b Mosaic Homes 25:21
49. Nic Hamilton (Can) Équipe Nationale Du Canada 26:13
50. Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 26:19
51. Jamie Sparling (Can) Raleigh GAC 28:35
52. Zach Hughes (Can) Garneau-Quebecor-Norton Rose 28:38
53. Garrett McLeod (Can) Team H&R Block 30:55
54. Andrew Mccullough (USA) Deda/Hype Ski-Velo 32:03
55. Stuart Wight (Can) Équipe Nationale Du Canada 40:47
56. David Williams (USA) Competitive Cyclist Racing Team 45:16