Whistler’s Will Routley and Ben Chaddock are currently in the midst of another B.C. Superweek in the Lower Mainland, where both have had important wins in their pro cycling careers.
While Team SpiderTech’s Routley was feeling fine with his results after Friday to Sunday’s (July 6 to 8) Tour de Delta, Team Exergy’s Chaddock was feeling a bit frustrated after an eighth-place omnium finish in the three-stage event.
Coming off his win in the Canadian Championship criterium last month, Chaddock was held off the podium in the Tour de Delta’s two crits and road race finale. His fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Brenco Criterium was one of just two top-10 results for Team Exergy over the three days.
“It was so-so, I’m not going to lie,” Chaddock said Monday (July 9) when asked for his thoughts on the Tour de Delta. “But (Saturday) was real fun to proudly wear my team colours and national championship jersey. The team rode really well and we took control at the end of the race, but unfortunately not all the way to the line.”
Routley’s focus this season has been on riding in European events with Canada’s only Pro Continental team and the 29-year-old hadn’t raced a criterium all season until Friday. Still, Routley helped lone SpiderTech teammate Ryan Anderson to a win Saturday and a second-place finish overall while placing 16th himself in the omnium standings.
“For me it’s kind of funny because it’s so different from what I’m training for over in Europe. Everything I do in Europe is 200 kilometres long, then I come here and do a criterium that’s an hour and 15 minutes,” said Routley, who spent the previous two weeks in Whistler recovering from his busy spring schedule. “For B.C. Superweek… my goals are more to use it to get back in shape, have a lot of fun – and it’s great to promote and take part in these local events, but the competition is still really high.
“I think (Anderson) and I both… were a little stale coming into this, but I think we’ll do better and better throughout the rest of the week.”
Routley is back at home for a while before heading back over to Europe for a busy fall schedule. He had a great spring campaign that featured a top-10 general classification finish in the Presidential Tour of Turkey and impressive single-stage results, including a podium appearance during Spain’s Vuelta a Andalucia.
He was then unable to hit the podium in last month’s Canadian Championship road race for a third-straight year, finishing 12th but helping teammate Ryan Roth to the title while coming off illness that forced him to abandon the Tour of Switzerland.
“I’ve had a really good spring but a really busy spring as well,” said Routley. “I was starting to feel the effects – I had the flu over there – and came back and had a really good nationals but I was running on fumes at that point.
“Like anybody, I just needed to recover at some point and I’d say I’m coming back to my old self pretty quickly.”
B.C. Superweek continued with the UBC Grand Prix on Tuesday and the revived Gastown Grand Prix on Wednesday (July 10 and 11), but results were not available at press time. The Giro di Burnaby runs today (Thursday, July 12) and the three-day Tour de White Rock finishes Superweek on Sunday (July 15). Chaddock won’t be involved on the weekend, however, as Team Exergy hosts the Boise Twilight Criterium in Idaho on Saturday (July 14).
“The Tour de Delta was really more of a warm-up race as we get fine-tuned for (the UBC), Gastown and Boise Twilight,” he said. “There are a whole bunch of new riders… coming in just for Gastown, so the quality of the field is going to go up another level.”
More locals riding Superweek
Whistler resident Shoshauna Laxson is taking part in the B.C. Superweek women’s races and finished the Tour de Delta with a ninth-place omnium finish for Trek Red Truck Racing.
Laxson racked up three consistent finishes, led by a seventh-place result in Friday’s MK Delta Criterium. She entered the UBC Grand Prix as the defending champ, having picked up her first major win in the event’s 2011 debut.
Meanwhile, Team Whistler’s Tony Routley, Will’s father, rode in the Category 3/4 men’s race that was part of Saturday’s events and placed 12th.
Grab The Question’s July 12 edition for more B.C. Superweek coverage.
