Cycling Canada has announced a squad of 23 riders who will represent Canada at the 2018 UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria from September 23 – 30. Women and men will compete in two events – road race and time trial – across five categories: Junior and Elite women, Junior, Under-23 and Elite men.The Canadian team includes national champions from every category and is led by Elite professional riders from the highest level of the sport, including national women’s time trial champion and defending team time trial champion Leah Kirchmann, and national men’s road champion Antoine Duchesne. Other names to watch for in the Elite women’s category are former world time trial champion Karol-Ann Canuel, Canadian criterium champion Sara Bergen and climbing specialist Sara Poidevin. On the men’s side, the Canadian squad includes professional WorldTour rider Michael Woods, who recently won a stage at the Vuelta a Espana, as well as Hugo Houle.
“At Road Worlds a lot of attention shifts to our elite categories,” said Kevin Field, Team Canada manager. “We enter both the men’s and women’s races with strong wildcard chances. Sara Poidevin has demonstrated she’s got the potential to be one of the best climbers in the world of women’s cycling – she’ll come in under-rated and I like that. Leah [Kirchmann] and Karol-Ann [Canuel] have consistently demonstrated top performances in the WWT [Women’s WorldTour] and Alison Jackson has had a breakthrough season. I’m really excited to see what our women can do. We have a strong, motivated and committed team that will once again be led by sport director Zach Bell.”
“On the men’s side, Mike Woods has proven the ability to be among the best in tough one-day races like Liege [Liege-Bastogne-Liege] and climbing stages in both the Giro and Vuelta. Mike will get strong support from his teammates; everyone is pretty excited about our chances and committed to riding as a galvanized team.”
The Under-23 men’s selection includes national road champion Ed Walsh, national time trial champion Adam Roberge, and national Criterium champion Nickolas Zukowsky. In the Junior ranks, Team Canada has national women’s time trial champion and criterium Simone Boilard and double national men’s champion (road race and time trial) Ben Katerberg.
“I can’t thank our road community enough for demonstrating the support and collaboration to bring us to this pinnacle event of the season. The focus this year shifted to working even more closely with some of our emerging road partners like NWSDA, B2Ten and the Hamilton Foundation and we couldn’t be happier.”
The world championships begin on Monday, September 24th with the Junior women’s and men’s time trials, and conclude on Sunday, September 30th, with the Elite men’s road race.
Team Canada [TT – Time Trial, RR – Road Race]
Elite Women
Sara Bergen – Coquitlam, BC [RR]
Karol-Ann Canuel – Gatineau, Quebec [TT, RR]
Alison Jackson – Vermilion, Alberta [RR]
Leah Kirchmann – Winnipeg, Manitoba [TT, RR]
Katherine Maine – Ottawa, Ontario [RR]
Sara Poidevin – Canmore, Alberta [RR]
Elite Men
Rob Britton – Regina, Saskatchewan [TT, RR]
Antoine Duchesne – Saguenay, Quebec [RR]
Hugo Houle – Sainte-Perpetue, Quebec [TT, RR]
Mike Woods – Gatineau, Quebec [RR]
Under-23 Men
Charles-Etienne Chretien – Amos, Quebec [RR]
Adam Roberge – Montreal, Quebec [TT, RR]
Ed Walsh – Halifax, Nova Scotia [RR]
Nickolas Zukowsky – Ste Agathe, Quebec [TT, RR]
Junior Women
Simone Boilard – Quebec City, Quebec [TT, RR]
Elizabeth Gin – Surrey, BC [RR]
Kaitlyn Rauwerda – Hamilton, Ontario [RR]
Magdeleine Vallieres-Mill – Sherbrooke, Quebec [TT, RR]
Junior Men
Ben Katerberg – Courtenay, BC [TT, RR]
Connor Martin – Kelowna, BC [TT, RR]
Carson Miles – Ottawa, Ontario [RR]
Robin Plamondon – Montreal, Quebec [RR]
Thomas Schellenberg – Chilliwack, BC [RR]
Source: Cycling Canada
About Cycling Canada
Cycling Canada is the governing body for competitive cycling in Canada. With the vision of becoming a leading competitive cycling nation, Cycling Canada manages the High Performance team, hosts national and international events and administers programs to promote and grow cycling across the country. Cycling Canada programs are made possible through the support of its valued corporate partners – Global Relay, Lexus Canada, Mattamy Homes, Louis Garneau, lululemon, 4iiii, Argon18 and Bear Mountain Resort – along with the Government of Canada, Own The Podium, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.