By getting in the day-long breakaway, François Parisien helped his teammates to spare energy
June 16th, Saint-Georges (Can)- After having to assume much of the work load during the last third of yesterday’s race, riders of the Canadian pro cycling team SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy got a rare chance to spare energy during today’s 160 kilometers stage in the Thetford-Mines region. For this, they can be thankful to their teammate François Parisien –a contender for the overall classification- who managed to put the pressure on the other teams by slipping in the day-long breakaway.
Taking advantages of the multiple attacks launched right from the first kilometer, François Parisien was able to joined forces and get away with Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia), John Murphy (BMC Racing Team), Javier Megias Leal (Team Type 1), Walker Savidge (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin U23), Jean-Sébastien Perron (Garneau Club Chaussures), Flavio Pasquino (Restore Cycling) and Jamie Sparling (Canadian National Team). Working well together, the 8 man group cruised with a 3 minute priority in front of the peloton. The situation changed with only 30 kilometers to go, when the break was clearly loosing ground. Having a thought for tomorrow’s stage and for the demanding climb of Mont-Mégantic, Parisien cut the gas since he was certain the group was going to be caught. The lead group then composed of only four men (Darren Rolfe, Flavio Pasquino, Walker Savidge and Jamie Sparling) saw its lead faint away steadily until they were absorbed by the bunch with three kilometers to go. At this moment SpiderTech’s Andrew Randell was leading the chase at very high pace, preparing the sprint for his teammate Guillaume Boivin who earned his Canadian Road Champion title on similar ground, also in Beauce, last year. Boivin ended his day of work with a respectable 8th position while the Australian David Tanner (Fly V Australia), Ukrainian Yuriy Metlushenko (Amore & Vita-Conad) and Canadian Andrew Pinfold (Unitedhealthcare p/b Maxxis) climbed on the stage podium.
The Tour de Beauce continues tomorrow with its third and mythical stage of Mont-Mégantic and its summit finish. The Tour de Beauce is being presented for the 25th consecutive time and it is one of the most important and difficult stage race in Canada. It is listed very high among the team SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy’s objectives for this season.
Additional information is available at www.tourdebeauce.com
