Young Kiwi riders impress at Junior Nations Cup in Canada

Promising New Zealand young riders have impressed in the 49th edition of the Tour de l’Abitibi, part of the UCI Junior Nations Cup, in Canada this week.

The Tour, based in and around Amos in the south-west of Quebec, comprised teams from 40 nations for a week-long stage race.

Auckland’s Sam Titter-Dower, who has ridden for the Blindz Direct Cycling team from Taranaki this year, led the way for the Cycling New Zealand team, finishing fourth on general classification.

Titter-Dower impressed with a fourth placing on the opening 119km stage, recording the same time as the winner, and from that point he finished safely in the peloton to maintain his position. His fourth placing overall saw him finish one minute behind winner Riley Sheehan (USA).

The American won overall by 28 seconds from Fernando Lopex(MEX) with a further four seconds to Richard Holed (CZE) and another 28 seconds to Titter-Dower.

National junior road champion Ben Hamilton, part of the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Performance Hub, finished sixth on general classification at 1:10 from the winner, and 10th in the race for the Points category.
The next best of the Kiwi team was national junior time trial champion Oscar Elworthy, also a member of the recently announced Auckland Performance Hub, who was 18th on GC at 1:37 while fellow Aucklander Jayden Kuijpers was fifth in the Mountains classification.

Best individual finishes were by Hamilton with was fifth in the individual time trial on stage three, and seventh in the peloton on the stage four criterium, while Auckland’s Liam Cappell was the best of the kiwis in 19th in the peloton in the final 115km stage.

Coach John Rippon said he was impressed with both the performance and approach by the young New Zealand team.

Meanwhile on the east coach of North America, the New Zealand endurance women’s track squad completed a training block with a tough test in the Cascades Tour based from Bend, Oregon.
Best of the New Zealand team was young Canterbury rider Elyse Fraser who was 29th overall, although the leading Kiwi in 27thwas Wanaka’s Mikayla Harvey, who is riding for Team Illuminate, a US-based Pro Continental team.