With the season well under way, we wanted to look back at UTRR’s first races in Ontario this season. We’ve been able to proudly show our stylish new kit at the first three O-Cups of the seasons: the Mosport Classic, the Calabogie Classic and the Ontario Police College Criterium (OPC Crit).
Surprisingly, we had the biggest numbers and the best organized team for the first, coldest, and wettest race in 2019 so far. We headed to the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (near Bowmanville) with four riders in men’s Elite 4 (Rolando, Sacha, Boris and Victor), one in women’s Elite 3 (Lily), and even a photographer (Janssen). Bike Depot lent us a tent for the race, and some of us even brought trainers - we were ready. What we were not ready for was the awful weather that welcomed us. Rain, wind, a few degrees above zero, and the necessity of being aero and competitive makes for a bad mix. After a short 20 min warmup, we all lined up for the 9:00 am start. Adding to the foul conditions, Lily was feeling sick and had to abandon her race early on.
In the men’s E4 race, we had a solo flyer attack very early, but he would be kept in check by the peloton and pulled back on the second lap. After a short respite, Victor attacked on the short climb and the headwind to make a small gap on the pack. Alex Vanderlinden (of Faction-Smile Tiger p/b WCC) joined him a little later to make the final composition of a break that would last until the end of the race. Without a chase from the peloton, the break only gained time and finished without too much pressure with Victor finishing ahead of his breakaway companion. Boris sprinted in the bunch for 9th, a second top-ten in a week after a Midweek crit late race result. Sadly Sacha and Rolando couldn’t finish the race, having been dropped earlier on. This race was as much a race against the conditions as a race against others.


This was a fun race with technical but not-too-sharp corners and long straight sections to gain speed. We even stayed for a post-race ride to enjoy the weather and the countryside roads!