Racing Report - July 24, 2005

Special "WORLD CUP" report from John Zaccone on the UCI Junior World Cup race, the Tour De l'Abitibi in Val d'Or, Quebec, July 18-24, 2005

Crossing the International Bridge into Sault Ste Marie, Ontario you enter the southern edge of the tiaga or boreal forest of Canada. This is a continuous belt of pine, spruce and fir trees that encircles the earth in the northern hemisphere. It’s against the backdrop of this huge, planet-encompassing wilderness that one of the worlds hardest bicycle races for junior men is held, The Tour De l’Abitibi, in Val d’Or, Quebec, Canada.

This year four junior racers from Southeast Michigan were fortunate enough to attend. After competing at a United States Cycling Federation qualifying camp, Derek Timmerman of Lansing, Alex Keomany of Ypsilanti, John Zaccone of Canton and Jordan Stohl of Ann Arbor were all selected to join the “Team Midwest-Borah Development” squad, a composite trade team from LaCrosse, Wisconsin. All four of these junior racers are existing members of the Sunrise Sports/Ann Arbor Velo Club racing team. The team would be rounded out by two additional riders, Ben Wizner and Ross White, both of LaCrosse, WI and would be directed by Larry Martin of LaCrosse, an Expert USCF Coach.

Team Midwest-Borah Development - from left - Coach Larry Martin, John Zaccone(Canton,MI), Ben Wizner(LaCrosse,WI), Ross White(LaCrosse,WI), Derek Timmermann(East Lansing,MI), Jordan Stohl(Ann Arbor,MI), Alex Keomany(Ypsilanti,MI)

The Tour De l’Abitibi is a special race in that it is part of the International Cycling Union’s (the international governing organization for bicycle racing) World Cup series of events for junior men, aged 17-18. The Junior World Cup series is comprised of eleven events and the Tour De l’Abitibi is the only event outside of Europe. This guaranteed that the race would draw the very best junior racers from North America as well as from Europe. In addition to the national teams of the U.S. and Canada, other national teams participating would be Belgium, Colombia, France, Japan and Sweden. The remainder of the field would be comprised of top-notch regional teams from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, as well as developmental squads from cycling clubs throughout the U.S. and Canada.

A very comparable analogy is that this is a junior racers “Tour De France”. In fact, many riders who have competed at the Tour De l’Abitibi have gone on to become pro cyclists. With some of the stars of the Tour De France, like Bobby Julich, Laurent Jalabert, Alex Steida and Michael Zanoli all having competed in previous editions. The city of Val d’Or has been the host to the last 15 editions of the race and is named after the large number of gold mines in the area. The English translation of the French name is “Valley Of Gold”. The race is comprised of a prologue and eight stages, for nine races in all. This year the race ran from Tuesday, July 18th – Sunday, July 24th.

Some of the more interesting stages would be the stage 4 individual time trial which started 1000 meters underground at the bottom of a gold mine. “The gold mine time trial was insane, said Derek Timmerman. We were loaded onto trucks and driven down a steep entrance road. At the bottom is was 56F, cold after the 80F on the surface. You started the race in the dark, riding up a 17% slope on a road only 12 feet wide. In some places you almost hit your head on the top of the tunnel. It was nuts!”.

Racers descend in trucks down the mine shaft for the start of the "Gold Mine TT"

Even though Team Midwest-Borah Development was riding against the very best junior racers in the world, they were still competitive. The team’s best finish came on the 62 mile, stage 6 where Jordan Stohl placed 9th. “I was fortunate to get into a break of about 10 riders, said Jordan. In the last couple of miles a rider from the Swedish National Team broke away and won. The Swedish guy was incredible. He was over six feet tall and had legs the size of tree trunks. He reminded me of Thor, the comic book super hero. I was happy just to hang on and finish at the front.”

Winner of Stage 6, Sebastian Balck of the Swedish National Cycling Team

Of the 162 riders on 27 teams, only 122 riders completed the entire race. Incredibly, all six members of Team Midwest-Borah Development finished. “That’s the first time in the five years I’ve been directing a team here that all six riders finished the entire race, said Coach Larry Martin. All the guys rode extremely well and I’m proud of what they accomplished”.

The race skirts one of the many lakes of the Abitibi region of Quebec

One of the features of the Tour De l'Abitibi is the incredible scenery

2005 was the second year that junior racers from the Sunrise Sports/Ann Arbor Velo Club Cycling Team have qualified to race the Tour De l’Abitibi. Former participant, Vince Roberge raced there in 2004. Having this race on his athletic resume helped Vince get accepted to the Cycling Center development program in Hertsberge, Belgium where he’s spending the 2005 season racing and training. The Ann Arbor Velo Club is a USCF club of 100 riders and is noted for it’s dedication to the development of junior racers. “Since I picked up this sport I’ve raced all over North America, said John Zaccone. I hope I can make it back to Val d’Or next year!”.

Final Results for Team Midwest-Borah Development