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Symmetrics tops America Tour standings

Will Routley helps lead team to three podiums and strong showing in Missouri

The inaugural Tour of Missouri kicked the level of bike racing up a notch with the participation of the top North American teams as well as teams from Europe.

The inclusion of the dominant Discovery Channel team, featuring Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and third place finisher Levi Leipheimer, as well as cycling legend George Hincapie, also drew more attention to the race than ever and ensured huge crowds along the six-stage, 960 km route.

Riding beside the best in the world was Whistler’s own Will Routley, who is coming off an August where he had five wins in regional races and placed second in the overall B.C. Cup standings — despite the fact he missed half of the events.

Routley said he did not have a chance to reflect on the fact that he was riding beside the top names in road racing, and was too busy helping to put his own team, Symmetrics Cycling, on the map.

“It was kind of cool they were there, but mostly it was just good that we were able to compete as a team at that level,” he said. “As opposed to being star-struck riding next to the Tour winner or the guys that have Tour podiums we were too busy attacking and covering moves, and too busy racing. It was really aggressive racing from start to finish, and you had to be on all the time. Only two breakaways in six days actually got away.”

Symmetrics brought a full team of eight riders to Missouri, but four of Routley’s teammates were tired and sick from the Vuelta a Venezuela the previous week. Still, the four healthy riders picked up the slack and together Symmetrics managed to earn three podiums. Andrew Randell also finished eighth overall in the general classification, while Symmetrics placed seventh out of 16 teams.

More importantly, the race clinched the overall Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) America Tour title for Symmetrics, with the overall tour champion being Symmetrics rider Svein Tuft — a first for an all-Canadian road rider and team.

The points acquired by Symmetrics should be enough to earn Canada at least one additional berth in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, bringing the number of Canadian riders to three.

According to Routley, a strong showing in Missouri was a great way to wrap up the 2006-07 season. The 2007-08 season gets underway in October with the Vuelta Chihuahua Internacional in Mexico.

“It was awesome to establish ourselves by contending at that level, especially considering that the majority of American and European teams have a bigger budget and more experience,” he said. “I don’t think anybody thought a few years ago when the team was formed that Symmetrics would be doing as well as we are. We’ve had a phenomenal year.

“Personally, I’m pretty psyched. I had an awesome August with races in Washington and B.C. and five wins, but those were more local races. In Missouri I was in awesome form, and rode really well. I got into about a million breakaways, but unfortunately I didn’t make it into the two that were the winning ones.

“I didn’t have a personal result in Missouri, but the way I was racing it could have happened. It more came down to what the courses were like, and how aggressive the race was. I could have easily been positioned in a breakaway that could have won, but there was so much depth out there that it was hard for the breakaways to get away from the pack.

“You might get 30 seconds on the field, but one team might have had two guys in the breakaway and another team would decide to get greedy and try to get two guys into the breakaway as well and before you knew it the main group had caught up. Every race would be like that for the first two hours, with everybody riding 100 per cent aggressive.”

Symmetrics Cycling was created in 2004 by Symmetrics Business Intelligence Solutions as a way to collect and develop Canada’s best cycling talent into a single competitive team. Previously Canadian riders would get picked up by American and European teams, but were rarely given a chance to shine.

Now Symmetrics boasts one of the strongest rosters of Canadian riders ever assembled, losing no time in establishing themselves as a top North American team. With success has come additional sponsorship, and invitations to compete in bigger races, like the Tour of Missouri. Recently they have picked up FarmPure Foods as a sponsor, which is opening doors for the team in Europe. Other partners include Coast Capital Savings, Wetlam Concrete, B.C. Hydro PowerSmart, Northern Feather, and Norco, while the team has also picked up over a dozen associate sponsors.

The success of the team has attracted scouts from other professional teams, but the riders have opted to stay together. The entire team, which on average is younger than other pro teams, has already signed on to return next year.

“I think that’s one of the coolest thing about Symmetrics,” said Routley. “If you look around North America or anywhere, guys are constantly changing teams looking for the best deal, and teams are constantly shopping around for the best riders. Lots of guys on the team have been courted, but we’ve all decided to come back for next year.

“We also have resumes coming in all the time from other riders because everybody wants to be on our team. At the dinners, we’re the only ones that are laughing all the time, we’re the only team that’s also a bunch of friends. We have a good time, and we also work our asses off for one another because we’re genuinely happy when our teammates do well. (Team manager) Kevin (Cunningham) has also worked hard to find sponsors to fill in the budget and keep everybody together.”

Now that they’ve established the team’s strengths and consistency, the goal for next year will be to push for more podiums and some wins at events like the Tour of Missouri.

This weekend Routley and the Symmetrics team will meet up with the five riders pf the H2V Coast to Coast team attempting to break the cross-Canada cycling record. They are hoping to make the journey in nine days, while raising money to cure Juvenile Diabetes. If it’s possible to do both, Routley is also considering getting back on a mountain bike on Saturday and riding the Cheakamus Challenge.

This winter Routley is back in university, and will live in Langley with other members of Symmetrics to continue training over the winter. To follow the team visit www.symmetricscycling.com.