Eight riders of the Symmetrics Cycling Team, including Whistler’s Will Routley, are racing in the Tour of Missouri this week where they will face some of the top riders from the Tour de France.
Some of their opponents include Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain and Levi Leipheimer of the U.S., who finished third in the Tour this year. Both race for Discovery Channel, which will cease to exist after the six-day stage race in Missouri.
Other strong contenders include George Hincapie, the 2006 U.S. Champion, Danny Pate of Australia, Ruben Bertogliati of Switzerland and Chris Baldwin.
Symmetrics is the only all-Canadian team, and features North American UCI points leader Svein Tuft, as well as national champion Christian Meier. Routley himself fell just three points shy of the overall B.C. Cup title this season with two wins to his credit although he only took part in half the races.
A strong performance by Symmetrics will open up more spots for Canadian riders at UCI world events, and possibly add another athlete to the team for the Olympics in Beijing.
After the first stage of the race on Tuesday, which covered 137.2 km, Zach Bell of Symmetrics was sitting in second place behind Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.
Andrew Pinfold was 24 th , Will Routley 53 rd , Svein Tuft and Eric Wohlberg 67 th and 68 th , Cameron Evans 74 th , Andrew Randell 93 rd , and Jacob Erker 107 th . Meier, a specialist in time trials, did not race.
Symmetrics sat 10 th out of 15 professional teams, but the race was so close that the first day’s results should have little bearing on the remaining five days of racing.
For more information, visit www.tourofmissouri.com.
Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined seeking volunteers, officials
The first national and international test events of Whistler’s 2010 venues get underway this winter, and Ski Jump Canada and Nordic Combined Canada are looking for volunteers to learn about the sports and perform roles that could turn into official positions with the Olympics.
There is room for 15 volunteers, and registration is being offered on a first come, first serve basis.
Theory sessions will take place on Saturday, Sept. 22 and 29, and from Nov. 21 to 23. Practical training will get underway on Dec. 1.
For more information, or to get your name on the list, contact Ashley Burke at 778-328-2021, or Ashley_burke@vancouver2010.com .
Whistler-Blackcomb launch pro-team site
Whistler-Blackcomb formally launched the Untracked Lines website this week, which features members of the company’s pro team. It’s essentially a blog for the athletes, with pictures, video and regular news updates.
The team includes big mountain skier Dan Treadway, Olympic snowboarder Justin Lamoureux, snowboard jibber Leanne Pelosi, freeskier Ian McIntosh, park skier Mark Abma, backcountry snowboarder Mikey Rencz, snowboarder Priscilla Levac, and park skier Sarah Burke.
To follow the athletes and get the latest news on what’s happening with the local scene, visit www.untrackedlines.com .
Whistler skiers on-snow in training camps
This week the B.C. Ski Team took its development level athletes to Invermere, where they will be partaking in a dryland camp and getting a few days of on-snow training on the Farnham Glacier.
Joining the group, and missing the first week of school, were several Whistler skiers. The development team includes Jen Meyer, Michael Cadman, Isaac Penn, and Patrick Taillefer from the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, as well as Ian Deans and Curtis Koepke of Big White, James Rose of Windermere Valley Ski Club, and Ryan Hotte of Mt. Washington Ski Club.
Some J1 skiers that did not get to ski at Farnham have made the trip to Invermere for dryland training and will be heading to a camp in Portillo, Chile include Alecia Willis, Madison McLeish, Ian Morrison, and Alexander Binks from the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, as well as Sarah Elliot from Big White, Chris Campbell from Timberland Ski Club, and Tyler Werry of the Fernie Alpine Ski Team.
