June 26/23 1:42 am - Jackson & Zukowsky Take Canadian Road Titles
Posted by Editoress on 06/26/23
The Canadian road championship titles were decided on Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta, with local favourite Alison Jackson (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) winning the women's maple leaf jersey, and Nick Zukowsky Q36.5 Pro Cycling) the men's.
Held in downtown Edmonton, the 10.2 kilometre course featured two descents and climbs each lap, as well as tight and twisty urban streets. The women raced 12 laps and the men a punishing 20 laps - a significant increase from previous years, after complaints for European-based pros about the length.
Jackson was one of the few European-based riders to have a team mate with her in the women's race - Sara Poidevin. Poidevin attacked solo early in the race, immediately opening a sizeable gap. The domestic squads in the race were unable to chase her down, and the European pros didn't want to expend the effort, only to exhaust themselves while Jackson sat on. Poidevin spent an impressive 90-plus kilometres off the front, as attrition shrunk the chase group. When she was finally caught, she went to the front to keep the pace high, still supporting her team mate.
Sara Poidevin was solo for 90-plus kilometres
Alison Jackson wins
The finish featured a short steep climb, followed by a 500 metre shallower uphill finish. Jackson, fresher after sitting in all race, surged a couple of times on the climb in the last lap, before finally launching with less than 200 metres to go, rolling across the line more than a bike length in front of Olivia Baril (UAE Team ADQ), with Sara van Dam (DNA Pro Cycling) taking third, and the Under-23 title.
The men's race was hit by a series of crashes in the first few laps, which splintered the field, and forced riders to chase back on. Besides domestic squads, the peloton contained a significant number of European-based pros, including Giro star Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech), defending champion Pier-Andre Cote (Human Powered Health), the continental champion, with team mates Ben Perry, Charles-Etienne Chretien and Adam de Vos, plus Zukowsky, James Piccoli (China Glory), and Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers).
Zukowsky figured in a number of early moves, all of which were brought back, with Gee trying to bridge a number of times, but being heavily marked. Zukowsky finally bridged up to a two man break with four laps to go, after being in a number of earlier efforts, taking Under-23 rider Philippe Jacob (Ecoflo Chronos) across with him. Once at the front, Zukowsky put on a masterful show, pulling the group around for the rest of the race, and eventually dropping everyone but Jacob.
The gap was only 15 seconds to start, but then crept out to 25-30 seconds, as the chase could not get organized. Gee tried a number of times to get across, each time reducing the lead to 15 seconds, but it would soon increase again after he stopped his efforts. On the final climb to the finish, Zukowsky dropped Jacob to solo in for his first national road title, while Jacob held on for second, and the Under-23 title. Quebec riders dominated the standings, taking all top seven places.
"I had a few scenarios in my head [having no team mates], but for me, I just go off of instinct," explained Zukowsky. "I'm generally a pretty aggressive racer, and I was inspired by how [retired pro] Antoine Duchesne raced a few years ago when he took the win on his own. It was quite a tough race today, over 200 kilometres, so for us [the European-based riders] it was pretty good. I knew I had to take advantage of that, even if it was early in the race. I was feeling good, feeling like I'm coming into some good fitness, so I figured I use it."
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