04.12.08 - Canada’s Alex Wrubleski sixth at women’s cycling World Cup road race

OTTAWA – Alex Wrubleski of Regina posted a career best sixth place finish on Saturday at the fourth stop on the ICU women’s cycling World Cup road race circuit in the Netherlands.

Chantal Beltman led the Netherlands to a 1-2 finish in the 136 kilometre race with Marianne Vos second and Ina Teutenberg of Germany third.

Wrubleski was competing for the first time in the Netherlands and said it was the toughest race she’s ever been involved in. It was a personal best result for her on the World Cup circuit.

‘’Holland racing is very different than anywhere else in the world,’’ said Wrubleski, 23, ninth in the women’s road race at the world championships last year. ‘’ It’s windy, flat and there’s tons of cobblestone. And the cobblestone is nothing anyone in North America could ever imagine. It was kilometres without end of rock.’’

Wrubleski caught the lead pack just past the halfway mark and she put herself in position for a sprint to the finish.

‘’As a team we didn’t really have a strategy for the race because we have no experience racing here,’’ she said. ‘’My goal was just to battle for position. It’s a World Cup, it’s malicious so everyone is very aggressive.’’

Canada is battling to stay ranked in the top-16 nations in women’s road cycling. A top-16 ranking by May 31 would allow Canada to qualify three riders for the Olympic Games this August in Beijing. On Saturday Canada was fifth as a team and entered the race ranked 16th internationally.

‘’This result was beyond my expectation and is worth valuable points for the Olympic qualification,’’ said Canadian national coach Vincent Jourdain. ‘’The conditions here were not easy. It was a classic Dutch race. For Alex to finish sixth in a race like that and despite the fact she’s only been overseas a week is excellent.’’

Former world championship medallist Anne Samplonius of Montreal was the other Canadian finisher taking 52nd place.

The other Canadians in the race were Gina Grain of Vancouver, ninth at the season opening Word Cup and a contender to make the track cycling team as well; Erinne Willock of Victoria who was 16th at last year’s worlds; two-time world championship team member Leigh Hobson of Cambridge, Ont., and accomplished professional rider Felicia Gomez. Riders who fell six minutes behind the leaders were removed from the race.

Also on the team is veteran Susan Palmer-Komar of Hamilton who didn’t race Saturday.

The Canadian team is being funded by L2RCP (Love to Ride Cycling Partners) a group of individual Canadian business people. ‘’The main reason we are here is because of them,’’ said Jourdain. ‘’’’We didn’t have any funding so we presented them a financial project and they accepted. They hold women’s cycling closely to their hearts and really want to see us do well at the Olympics.’’

The next stop on the World Cup is the La Fleche Wallone Feminine in Belgium on April 23. The Canadian women will also race in five other events this month which also count towards the Olympic qualifying procedure.