This Wednesday July 6th the Tour de la Releve kicked off under cloudy skies in Rimouski, QC. Cycling BC sent a strong team of 4 cadet boys featuring Riley Pickrell, Conor Martin, Ben Katerberg and Isaac Van Der Vliet. The first stage was a Team Time Trial (TTT) which saw the BC boys take gold by 6 seconds. Riley Pickrell had this to say about the TTT:
After we got up to speed there was a false-flat descent that I decided to pull for 45 sec. at 59 km/h at a cadence of 140 rpm. I figured nobody would come around me so I rocked it. At the finish I cracked myself as hard as I could. I don’t think anyone could possibly spin faster on a 50 x 15 cadet gear.
Stage two was a 78 km Road Race where BC swept the podium 1-2-3 (Ben Katerberg, Conor Martin, Riley Pickrell. Coach Wes had this to saw about the boys performance:
Ben finished with 1 min. solo, Riley and Conor were solo until 5 km to go when two Centurion riders bridged up. Riley and Conor 1-2’d them with 3 km to go on the final one km climb. Conor attacked aggressively and soloed second. Riley cat-and-moused the other two and took the bronze by almost two bike lengths. Isaac was caught up in a very early crash, about 20 km in. He managed to get back on the bike and finish the stage.
Stage three took place on Friday July 8th which had the athletes against the clock in the ITT (Individual Time Trial). Ben Katerberg took the gold medal for BC, Conor Martin 2nd, Riley Pickrell 3rd and Isaac Van Der Vliet, who’s still recovering from yesterdays crash in 26th. Overall the boys are stoked with their results and are looking to continue on with their gold medal performances.
For more information or to follow along check out the Tour de la Releve website here.
