04.28.12 - ROAD RACES CONCLUDE PARACYCLING PORTION AT 2012 DÉFI-SPORTIF

Croteau, Ledo and Weldon/Bessette repeat winners in road race; Surprise in C men

(Montreal, QC – April 28, 2012) Despite racing in the tough conditions highlighted by yet more cold weather, Marie-Ève Croteau (Québec, QC), Mark Ledo (Maple, ON) and the tandem of Robbi Weldon and Lyne Bessette (Knowlton, QC) have all won their second race in as many days as the road races were the featured events at the 2012 Défi Sportif Alter-Ego, on Ile Notre-Dame in Montréal, QC.

Croteau, who is enjoying tremendous success since starting her competitive career on a tricycle last season, proved that her winter training is paying off, winning the tricycle race in a sprint against an American man to grab her second straight victory this season. Louis-Albert Corriveau took the third place, while both Shelley Gautier (Toronto, ON) and Dominique Mainguy (Québec, QC) were involved in a crash on the start line and couldn’t recover in time to catch the lead group.

In the handcycle H2-4 category, Mark Ledo won after a long solo breakaway, crossing the finish line with a time of 1:03:58. Teammate Mark Beggs took the second place, in dramatic fashion sprinting against an American rider William Lachenaur. Both Beggs and Lachenaur posted the same time, 2:37 behind the winning time.

In the H1 men/H1-3 women’s race, Robbert Labbé (Québec, QC) took the second place, while Myriam Adam crossed the finish line in third place.

In the C1-3 race, Paralympic hall of famer Arnold Boldt took the third place in the peloton sprint, followed by Matthieu Parent in fifth. In the C4 race, Sébastien Bouchard (Québec, QC) won the race with a time of 1:48.11. Bouchard took off in a solo breakaway, and never looked back. Peter King took the second place in the chase, while Eric Bourgeault showed a lot of class to allow King the second place since he had done most of the work in the chase. Both finished 22 seconds behind Bouchard.

Marie-Claude Molnar took the silver medal in the women’s C1-5 race. Molnar conceded the victory to her competitor Patricia Collins from the United States of America in the final sprint. They both posted a time of 1:24:06.

In the tandem race, the Parapanamerican champion tandem of Robbi Weldon and Lyne Bessette took a convincing victory, winning by over two minutes over the established tandem of Geneviève Ouellette and Émilie Roy, both of Québec, QC. Melissa Boisvert took the third place, riding with her new pilot Joanie Laflamme. In the men’s race, the newly formed tandem of William Stanley and Pierre-Olivier Boily won the race, edging Daniel Chalifour and Alexandre Cloutier by two seconds at the finish line.

The Canadian Para-Cycling Team will now turn to the 2012 UCI World Cup season, which ends with the World Cup Finals in Baie-Comeau, QC, from July 7-10.