Victoria cyclists Erin Attwell and Sarah Van Dam pointed their wheels firmly in the direction of France on Saturday by taking bronze with sa国际传媒 in the women’s team pursuit at the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup in Milton, Ont.
Featuring the best velodrome cyclists in the world, the Nations Cup is considered a strong indicator for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The Canadian team, racing together for the first time, edged the U.S. for the bronze medal as Great Britain cycled to the gold and Germany to silver.
“We’re very excited going forward with a big pool of girls that push each other and are dialled in and focused,” said Attwell.
Attwell and Van Dam represent the latest success story out of the 1994 Commonwealth Games velodrome in Colwood. The outdoor, paved-concrete structure has been supplanted by the more modern, indoor hardwood-track 2015 Pan Am Games velodrome in Milton and only survived after the Island cycling community rallied to save the Juan de Fuca oval when threatened by demolition.
It remains an important training facility and has been the place for a first introduction to track cycling for young Island riders and has produced 2012 London Olympics bronze-medallist Gillian Carleton, 2020 Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jay Lamoureux and 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games gold medallist Evan Carey. And now Atwell and Van Dam.
“The Juan de Fuca velodrome has been incredibly important to me and is the reason I am in track cycling,” said Attwell, a silver medallist at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games.
“It was the only safe place to race bikes as a youth. It was our training and hang-out place.”
Van Dam said: “The Juan de Fuca velodrome stoked my passion for track cycling. I learned everything about track racing there. I race on the road as well. They complement each other when done right. It keeps it interesting. I live in the moment.”
Both riders started out in the Victoria Tripleshot program. Attwell, 24, and Van Dam, 21, were joined Saturday on the bronze-medallist Canadian pursuit team by Maggie Coles-Lyster of Langley and veteran Ariane Bonhomme of Gatineau, Que.
“This gives us confidence. We’re a new team and, since the Tokyo Games, we’ve been trying to rebuild our program,” Tokyo Olympian and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Bonhomme said in a statement.
“We knew we were capable of doing this but everything needed to come together on race day. We’ve been trying for more than a year and today everything worked out. We know that this is the start of something special.”
sa国际传媒’s other medal on the opening day of the Track Nations Cup came from the team of Tokyo Olympic medallists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest, who joined with Sarah Orban, to take silver in the women’s team sprint behind winner Mexico with Poland taking bronze. sa国际传媒 placed fourth in the men’s team pursuit. Van Dam was 10th in the individual elimination race.
“The Nations Cup is an opportunity to earn points for Olympic qualification,” said Dan Proulx of Victoria, head coach of Cycling sa国际传媒.
“It’s a battle just to qualify for the Games. Many of the best nations [are] in Milton to take advantage of the fast track. sa国际传媒 has a very talented and ambitious group.”
Thanks in part to an old, but still useful, velodrome in Colwood.
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