What a race! Day 2 of the 2026 Canadian road nationals saw some terrific racing. The junior women began the day, with Molly Flynn taking the win in a reduced bunch sprint.
Then it was time for the elite and under-23 men to go for maple leaf jerseys and medals.
The race exploded early, with a select group of riders including Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) Pier-André Côté, Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure Factor Pro Cycling) and Mike Woods (Ventum)–who was racing as an independent.
The gap sank from half a minute to just over 15 seconds to go of the 8-lap, 185-km race in Saint Georges, Que.
On the last lap, Woods attacked hard and reduced the group to a handful. Gee-West, Côté, Houle–they were all watching and attacking each other.
Meanwhile, a few crafty under-23s were happy to see the pros go at it and bide their time.
Ultimately it was Jérôme Gauthier (Project Echelon Racing) who took a fantastic win in the sprint. Luke Valenti (Club Ciclista Padronés – Cortizo), winner of Tour de Beauce a few years ago, took second. Léo Roy (Team Vittel N’side) who has been racing in France this season, and killing it, finished third. The national championships are a strange beast, sometimes.
WorldTour pros are thrust into mixed fields, making tactics easier said than done. Being heavily marked, having few or no teammates, and a course that’s undoubtedly tough—but perhaps not quite selective enough for this field (no disrespect to Beauce!)—can create chaos in the finale. Either way, it was great racing today, and there’s plenty more to come with the elite women racing Saturday.
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