Written by Heather Labance
Team Members in Attendance:
Elisa Gagnon
Heather Labance
Kirsten Robbins
Tara Ross
Amanda Sin
Team Advil-ChapStick was represented last weekend not only at some national races but also at international race. The team split sending half of its members to Canada to race in the Montreal World Cup. This is a highly prestigious race for the best women in the world. Not only were 24 countries represented with their national champions, but the world champion, Marianne Vos was there along with numerous Olympians from all over the world. This race was my first World Cup race and it lived up to its hype!
Team Advil-ChapStick was sought out for a television interview by Kathy St. Laurent, former Canadian National Champion. She works for RDS (Reseau Des Sports) one of the largest sports channels in Canada. We did a French interview and an English interview. It certainly helped to have Elisa, our French Canadian for the French version! What did you say??? After our 15 minutes of fame, we set off for a team presentation. This is when we go up a huge platform and sign-in while all the media takes photographs and screams questions at you. We felt very professional standing up there in our Champion Systems kit. I still think that we look the best out there!
There were literally thousands of fans lining the streets and the highly anticipated Mount Royal climb. All of the media and the spectators were there to watch the women and women only. This event does not have a men’s race. It’s all for us! We rolled around bumping into World Champions past and present, Gold medalists past and present and then waited for the start of the race with the other 150 riders.
The race consists of 11 laps up a grueling ten minute climb followed by a screaming descent. After the descent we race through Montreal strung out and fast-paced only to return to the climb again. This is truly a race of attrition. On the first time up the climb, 50 racers were dropped off the back and out of contention already! Team Advil-ChapStick stuck it out and had four riders represented in the front group for 7 laps! On the seventh lap, a huge attack was put in by Fabiana Luperini, the eventual winner, and the main group shattered. The four Advil-ChapStick riders were now in the “chase” group and would never catch the front group. Three of us finished this race, which is a huge accomplishment. More than half of the racers were dropped and pulled from the course. Fabiana Luperini (Menikini-Selle Italia-Gysko) won the race and said that it was one of the hardest, if not the hardest, World Cup race in the world.
I was extremely proud to represent Team Advil-ChapStick and finish this race. I learned a huge amount and know that I am a better racer because of that.
Team Members in Attendance:
Elisa Gagnon
Heather Labance
Kirsten Robbins
Tara Ross
Amanda Sin
Team Advil-ChapStick was represented last weekend not only at some national races but also at international race. The team split sending half of its members to Canada to race in the Montreal World Cup. This is a highly prestigious race for the best women in the world. Not only were 24 countries represented with their national champions, but the world champion, Marianne Vos was there along with numerous Olympians from all over the world. This race was my first World Cup race and it lived up to its hype!
Team Advil-ChapStick was sought out for a television interview by Kathy St. Laurent, former Canadian National Champion. She works for RDS (Reseau Des Sports) one of the largest sports channels in Canada. We did a French interview and an English interview. It certainly helped to have Elisa, our French Canadian for the French version! What did you say??? After our 15 minutes of fame, we set off for a team presentation. This is when we go up a huge platform and sign-in while all the media takes photographs and screams questions at you. We felt very professional standing up there in our Champion Systems kit. I still think that we look the best out there!
There were literally thousands of fans lining the streets and the highly anticipated Mount Royal climb. All of the media and the spectators were there to watch the women and women only. This event does not have a men’s race. It’s all for us! We rolled around bumping into World Champions past and present, Gold medalists past and present and then waited for the start of the race with the other 150 riders.
The race consists of 11 laps up a grueling ten minute climb followed by a screaming descent. After the descent we race through Montreal strung out and fast-paced only to return to the climb again. This is truly a race of attrition. On the first time up the climb, 50 racers were dropped off the back and out of contention already! Team Advil-ChapStick stuck it out and had four riders represented in the front group for 7 laps! On the seventh lap, a huge attack was put in by Fabiana Luperini, the eventual winner, and the main group shattered. The four Advil-ChapStick riders were now in the “chase” group and would never catch the front group. Three of us finished this race, which is a huge accomplishment. More than half of the racers were dropped and pulled from the course. Fabiana Luperini (Menikini-Selle Italia-Gysko) won the race and said that it was one of the hardest, if not the hardest, World Cup race in the world.
I was extremely proud to represent Team Advil-ChapStick and finish this race. I learned a huge amount and know that I am a better racer because of that.
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