Adam Roberge and Katja Verkerk win elite titles at Canadian Gravel Championships

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Adam Roberge (Felt UN1TD) outsprinted Julien Gagné (Équipe Qui Roule) to win the elite males’s title on the Canadian Gravel Championships on Sunday, whereas Katja Verkerk (Bodily Tradition Straight Up Cycles) outlasted Haley Smith (Trek Driftless) to take the elite girls’s gravel nationwide title.

The 118km course featured a clockwise loop in western Alberta with 6,800 toes of climbing, the very best level of the route hitting on the half-way level and climbing to five,400 toes above sea stage. Rolling hills prevailed all through a chilly, moist and wet day.

„It was onerous from the start and with the climate, it was onerous to draft,” mentioned Roberge in a Biking Canada media launch. “I figured being affected person can be higher with that kind after all.“

After the third and remaining feed zone with 30km to go, Roberge and Gagné had made separation with Michael van den Ham (Large Biking) on the entrance of the race. Van den Ham was dropped with 5km to go. Within the remaining kilometres on the pavement, Roberge rushed to the road for the win in 3:44:31, three seconds forward of Gagné. Van den Ham held on to 3rd place, 44 seconds again.

Verkerk got here into the gravel championships after a spring of highway racing, the place she had stage wins at Valley of the Solar Stage Race and Tucson Bicycle Traditional in Arizona in class 4 and three divisions, respectively. The Victoria, British Colombia rider took the solo victory in 4:37:45, 2:54 in entrance of Smith. Anna Gabrielle Traxler was third, one other one minute again.

“I’m new to racing, so I don’t know anybody,” Vervek mentioned within the media launch. “I attempted to observe the primary 5 to 10 wheels and I adopted an assault from a rider I adopted for some time, till she had a mechanical, the place I might move her. I wasn’t anticipating to place a Canadian jersey on as we speak, so it’s form of loopy.” 

This yr’s nationals had been a part of Ghost of the Gravel weekend, an hour from Calgary in Water Valley. The identical 118km course, known as the Scary route, was used for different begin waves for leisure fondo riders. Final yr the gravel nationals had been held in Ontario.

Outcomes – elite girls prime 5

Outcomes – elite males prime 5