Canwest News Service,
John Mackinnon
The quest took most of a decade, but Will Routley, who hails from Whistler and spends next to no time in Canada while riding professionally for a team called Jelly Belly, finally grabbed the lump of sugar he has sought for so long: the road race title at the national road cycling championships.
If it was a long time coming, and it was for the 27-year-old Routley, it also did not come easily on a blazing hot, glorious day on the 13-km course in and around Hawrelak Park in the river valley. He won the race in four hours 20:15.86 minutes, nipping rival Andrew Randell of Toronto in the final 200-metre sprint.
Bruno Langlois was third, 11.78 seconds behind.
On the fourth lap of a 14-lap, 182-km grind in 26 C heat, Routley joined a breakaway along with Randall and the pair managed to keep separation between themselves and a small chase pack, which had also separated from the main peloton in a field of 133 riders.
“It was kind of disorganized all day, but we kept it going enough to stay out there, if barely,” Routley said. “I’ve been feeling good for the last little while . . . so I knew coming in here my fitness was there.”
It showed as, lap after lap, the pair maintained a gap of about 35 seconds, as a tactical game of cat-and-mouse played out among a number of chase groups behind them.
“We were working for all we were worth and we held it and held it and held it,” Routley said.
On the final climb, Routley pushed again, trying to shake Randell, but his competitor caught up to him not far from the entrance to the park.
“I knew in the back of my head, coming into this that if I had to, I had a sprint in me,” said Routley, who said he had been doing ample power work to complement the endurance training in preparation for the nationals. “I felt confident I could play a few different cards and it worked out.”
Randell felt he rode a splendid race until that decisive sprint on a day the likes of pre-race favourite Svein Tuft (58th) and veteran international track cyclist Zach Bell (64th) were not factors at all.
“I was going to jump (sprint hard) coming through the gates (to Hawrelak Park) because it’s a downhill sprint,” said Randell, who won the road race at nationals in 2002. “But I hesitated and I shouldn’t have, I totally messed up.”
Routley figured Randell hesitated on instructions from his own SpiderTech team, which was trying to have another team member bridge the gap to the chase group at that moment. But before Langlois could join the two leaders, the winning sprint was on and it was too late.
“It means a lot, I was holding back tears a few minutes ago there,” Routley said. “I’ve been thinking maybe I had a shot to win nationals since the junior mountain bike days and that was 10 years ago now.
“I’ve been trying to win it for a while: mountain bike junior, mountain bike espoir, road espoir, now road team and finally. I’ve been on the podium once ever.”
As an added bonus, he believes it is now “99 per cent sure” the victory will secure a berth for him on Canada’s team at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, in October, another goal for him entering this competitive season.
Routley, who spent two months last winter doing hard training in Santa Cruz, Calif., reckons he has slept in his own bed in B.C. no more than 10 days since the new year, but he remains a proud Canadian for whom a national title resonates powerfully.
“For the next year, I get to wear the national championship jersey,” Routley said. “I can only imagine going for a training run in the pouring rain on a crud day, and just knowing I can put that jersey (in competition) on will be a lot of extra motivation.
“It means a lot.”
jmackinnon@thejournal.canwest.com
