Voting for the 10th annual Canadian Cyclist of the Year Awards concluded on Monday, December 11, 2006, with two riders dominating the standings. Max Plaxton of Tofino, BC won both the Male Cyclist and Best Individual Performance awards, while Marie-Hélène Prémont of Chateau-Richer, Quebec repeated as the Female Cyclist of the Year.

The 21 year old Plaxton, a professional mountain bike rider with the Rocky Mountain-Business Objects team, racked up three wins in three races on the Canada Cup circuit, as well as taking the silver medal at the National championships. At the World Championships in Rotorua, New Zealand, Plaxton won the bronze medal, and then finished his season by winning the Pan American championship in Camboriu, Brazil. Plaxton ends the year ranked 34th in the world rankings; the highest Canadian male ranking. Plaxton took 41% of first place votes, followed by profesional road racer Ryder Hesjedal of Victoria, BC, with 25% of first place votes.

Max Plaxton also won the Best Individual Performance Award, for his victory at the Pan American Championships in Camboriu, Brazil.

"It's a great honor to be recognized by all of Canada as the best overall Male Cyclist of 2006. I think that I have had an all around good year but for me this is more something to build on. I must say, though, that I really respect Ryder's (Hesjedal) inspirational 4th place ProTour result. Thanks to everyone that voted for me, your support means a lot."

Marie-Hélène Prémont's victory in the women's category is her third in four years. Prémont, the Olympic silver medalist for mountain bike in Athens, also a Rocky Mountain-Business Objects team member, began her season with the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. Prémont also won the bronze medal at the World Championships (Rotorua, New Zealand), plus two World Cup victories and her third straight national title. Prémont ends the season ranked third in world standings. Prémont took 44% of first place votes, followed by national road champion Alexandra Wrubleski of Regina, Saskatchewan with 31% of first place votes.

Canadian Cyclist also presents two awards that are not voted upon - the Best Newcomer and, new this year, the Best Paralympic Performance. Alex Wrubleski, who won both the National Time Trial and Road titles in her first full year of racing at the elite level, wins the Roger Sumner Award, as Best Newcomer.

Louis Barbeau, Director General of the FQSC (and Chef de Mission for Canada at the Athens Paralympics) pointed out that we do not have an award for the paralympic sector of our sport, which we are pleased to rectify this year. The first winners of this annual award are the tandem team of Pierre-Olivier Boily and Stéphane Côté. Prior to their cooperation, Stéphane Côté had been involved in tandem racing since 1996 and had already participated to two Paralympic Games (1996 and 2000) with other pilots. In 2004, they participated to the Paralympics together in Athens and finished fourth in the road race.

Louis Barbeau has provided the following account of the obstacles the team faced this season:

On January 2006, Pierre-Olivier Boily was the victim of a major car crash as his car was hit by another one which was heading in the wrong direction, in the Sherbrooke (Quebec) area. As a result of this head on collision, the man in the other car died, but luckily Pierre-Olivier and his friend survived this accident with multiple fractures. After undergoing four surgeries, no one in his right mind would have thought that he would have been racing in 2006.

Nevertheless, he did so and the tandem Pierre-Olivier and Stéphane participated to Track Nationals, then were selected for Worlds in Aigle (Switzerland), mainly on the grounds of their results from previous years, as being the most competitive male tandem in Canada.

At the Worlds, they performed very well, again given where they came from. They obtained an 8th place (out of 27) in the Individual Pursuit, 10th (out of 31) in the Kilo, 12th (out of 39) in the road time trial and 2nd in the road race (out of 39). The medal (silver) was the only medal won by Canada at these Worlds.

This tandem represents the best chance of a medal for Canada at the next Paralympic Games in Beijing (2008).

Source :

Canadian Cyclist
http://www.canadiancyclist.com
http://www.bicyclecanada.com