Svein Tuft (Orica GreenEdge) rides to the stage win in Tour de San Luis(Image credit: Ricardo Romero Astorga / www.ciclismonatural.com)
Canadian champion Leah Kirchmann (Optum Pro Cycling)(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Leah Kirchmann (Optum) watches as another rider comes to the front to work.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Canadian road and time trial champions Svein Tuft and Leah Kirchmann will represent their nation in the time trial at the 2014 UCI Road World Championships held from September 21 to 28 in Ponferrada, Spain. Cycling Canada selected a total of seven athletes across the elite men’s and women’s categories for the time trial and road race.
Tuft’s main focus is on the team time trial with Orica-GreenEdge and the individual time trial at the World Championships this year, and he opted not to compete in the road race.
He had a strong season that included a victory in the opening team time trial with Orica-GreenEdge at the Giro d’Italia in May, and as the first rider on the team to cross the line, he wore the early race leader’s jersey. He and his team also placed second in the team time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico, he won the national time trial title, placed fourth in the individual event at the Commonweath Games and placed second in the time trial at Tour du Poitou-Charentes, which led to a second place overall.
Kirchmann will also be competing in the team time trial with her trade team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies, along with the individual time trial and the road race with her national team. She will then lead her country's elite women’s road team that also includes Joëlle Numainville from Lotto Belisol Ladies and Karol-Ann Canuel (who will also be competing in the time trial) from Specialized-lululemon.
Tuft’s Orica-GreenEdge teammate Christian Meier will lead the elite men’s team that also includes Michael Woods from 5-Hour Energy p/b Kenda and Ryan Anderson from Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies.
Along with the seven elite athletes, Cycling Canada selected eight men and women for the junior category. The junior women’s team will be led by Dafné Théroux-Izquierdo (time trial and road race), Laurence Dumais (road race), Emeliah Harvie (road race) and Sara Poidevin (road race). The junior men’s team will include Pier-André Coté (time trial and road race), Edward Walsh (road race), Jean-Simon D’Anjou (road race) and Derek Gee (road race).
Canada did not qualify with enough points to field a U23 team in the road race.
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