Let's be blunt, Garmin is in the Tour de France right now, that's the pinnacle of the sport and we have to admit we are not there. We're not going to stand in the way of a 23 year old kid's opportunity to be a part of that team. When you start bike racing you dream of riding on teams like that. And we are proud that teams like that look at teams like ours for emerging talent - it validates what we are doing and the choices we are making with our guys and the races we do. Of course we're now on the hunt for the next emerging Christian. We wish the young man all the best and hope it works out in 2009.

For those who don't know, a 'stagiare' role is like a try-out. Garmin isn't making a commitment to Christian for 2009 just yet. He's gotta prove himself. But we know he's got the right character to mix well with that team. His athletic ability isn't at question. And he has the same values about clean sport that is central to Slipstream Sports.

For Christian this is the third great thing that's happened to him in three weeks. First the Nationals win, then he got engaged to his lady friend, and now the Garmin deal. Bad thing for us is we may just have to race against the young man in Missouri this fall!

Finally, we think it's great that he'll be wearing the maple leaf jersey in Europe. Ryder had the TT jersey this year and Christian will keep it rolling. I think the last time the road jersey was over there in the big show was 1997 with Steve Rover? It will be pretty special to see it in the Giro di Lombardia - if that race works out as planned on Christian's schedule. I may just have to make another trip over to lake Como to see that.

Zach was right there with Pinner throwing his bike at the line trying for second. In the end Zach got third behind Hilton Clark which put two of our riders on the podium. Combine that with Svein epic ride and that is by far the best performance we have ever had at Gastown.

Check out the press

Vancouver Sun - Hard-earned victory at Tour de Gastown

Vancouver Province - Pinfold and Grain take men and women's honours at Tour de Gastown

Velonews - Pinfold and Grain win the Vancouver stop of the USA CRITS Series

Pinfold, Grain pour on the gas for Canadian double

See our twitter feed from last nights race

Check out the photo gallery

Results

Prologue

1. Svein Tuft
2. Andrew Pinfold

Criterium

1. Cam Evans
3. Zach Bell

Road Race

1. Andrew Pinfold
3. Zach Bell

Overall:

1. Zach Bell
2. Cam Evans

Press:

Symmetrics dominates Delta - Vancouver Sun

Pinfold, Benjamin ride to victory in Tour de Delta road race - Vancouver Province

Pictures:

Here are a few pictures from Greg Descantes

This was the same course we did on stage 5 in the Tour de Beauce, so we knew it well. We were very worried about the course, but it was also very suited to our abilities. With the heat and the distance though… you never know what is going to happen. The plan in races like this is really kind of simple-you do what you can, work the numbers.

Jake and Eric covered the first move of the day. Zach went up. We had 3 in 9. Good numbers. Some stuff happened, then Jake and Christian were off the front in a group of 6, two in six is good numbers. Some guys behind counter attacked Eric, Will and Sherby had that covered - good numbers 2 in 6 up front and 3 in 12 behind. Then attrition started to take its toll. Guys started to drop out of the break, it was 2 in 5 up front. Walters from Team RACE wasn't working, Roth from Team RACE was in the chase - working hard. If the two groups had joined we would have had 3 in 9 again and RACE would have only had 2 - good numbers.

Then Derek St. John dropped out of the break followed by Walters. The gaps seemed stable, the heat, the distance were taking there toll. The gaps were not changing. We were pretty much in a death march at this point. We had Christian and Jake up front with Bruno Langois. Bruno was not working, was he 'done' or was he playing? We weren't sure. Then disaster struck - Jake got a cramp. His leg seized up totally and he was dropped. It was just Christian and Bruno in the lead. Kevin F went up to Christian in the car and said he had to get Bruno to help - the time gaps were safe, there were no immediate threats. Jake was recovering, it actually would have been good for us to have Jake rejoin Christian and Bruno. But Bruno started working.

In the end that was it. Christian and Bruno rode it to the finish. Christian attacked with about 500m to go and gapped Bruno just enough to hold it to the line. Last year Christian won the National Espoir title on the exact same finishing hill in a very different type of race.

We are all pretty happy with how things worked out for us this weekend with Svein taking the TT Championship and Christian taking the Road.

Here's Christian's post race interview with Rob Jones from Canadian Cyclist.

Congrats to Dave Veilleux who is really showing his class as an Espoir. David was 4th today in the combined Elite/U23 standings and was first Espoir.

Check the full story at Canadian Cyclist

Photos are here

Well I’m home from another weekend of racing and road tripping. This time is was the Elkhorn Classic in Baker City Oregon. It was great to get down and race in some heat, something I haven’t felt here in BC since last August. With the Nationals in Quebec less than two weeks away likely to be very hot, it was good to do some acclimatization.

The long drive to the race was pretty entertaining as I was traveling the BC Junior team. With the car full of junior boys/ men, you can guess what the conversation revolved around. Was I like that when I was a junior? (OK I guess I’m still like that)

The race was my last fitness tester before nationals and the body is feeling good. I won the final stage and took the overall; I had to set a good example for the juniors after all. It’s a good confidence boost, as I haven’t raced a ton in the last month and one wants to be sure all the training is paying off.

Looks like it must be.

From Willbikes.com.

As expected, the fourth stage of the 2008 Tour de Nez stage race provided a big shake up in the general classification, as Kelly Benefit’s Andy Bajadali took the leader’s jersey away from BMC’s Ian McKissick. Eric Wohlberg of the Symmetrics team was able to come away with a hard earned victory on the 6.5 mile mountain circuit, while putting himself back into contention for the overall title.

The day’s action began early, as it has in most of the other stages, with the BMC team attacking. Scott Nydam, the 2008 Tour of California climbing champion, attacked the field on the very first lap, taking four other riders with him. After being caught on the descent, the field came back together ahead of the second lap, and the three mile ascent that featured a total of 869 vertical feet of climbing.

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Tino put us up for the night, he was excited Canad's top pro team would be there, and he said Team RACE Pro and the Columbia National Team would also be there from Beauce, so it looked like it would be a battle royale. Not to mention this race is traditionally more hotly contested than any other race in Quebec! Throw in strong teams from Sleemans, VW-Specialized and Garneau-Crocs and local Montreal duo of Keven Lacombe and Martin Gilbert from Kelly Medifast and we were going to have our work cut out for us.

The guys were super tired after the big week last week but they got up for it last night. One by one they nuetralized dangerous moves during the fast night and with 6 laps to go they moved to the front en-masse. Randers took the first pull in the finale train doing a full three laps and reeling in the final attack that was dangling just in front of the field. I was standing with Steve Rover - former Canadian Champion and one of a select crew of canucks who have raced pro in Europe. Steve said to me 'They went to the front to early', I said 'no - it will be ok just watch'. He replied 'its too fast they won't hold it'. Dwayner came to the front after Randers - no one came over the guys. Cam took over after Dwayner taking it to 500m to go - no one could come over the guys. Pinner drilled it through the final two fast corners - no one came over the guys. Z-man took it from 100m winning with a safe gap over Buck Miller. Pinner, with his arms raised, still rolled over the line in third for the night.

Now it is time to take a rest and recover. Cam might hit a few more of these crits in Montreal, but most of the guys are going to take a needed rest for two weeks while we re-group and get organized for the National Championships July 4-6 back in Beauce.  We also have our fingers crossed for Dwayner to get the nod to Beijing.