Les Larose-Gingras continuent sur leur lancée

La deuxième Coupe Canada de vélo de montagne a pris place le week-end dernier à Baie Saint-Paul (Québec) et encore une fois l'équipe Opus était présente et a couru en force. 

Les  frères et soeurs Guillaume Larose-Gingras et Frédérique Larose-Gingras ont commencé la journée avec une place sur le podium dans leur catégorie respective, Guillaume s'appropriant la victoire dans la catégorie cadet homme sur son Opus Prime 29er. De son côté, Frédérique a roulé une solide course vers la troisième position dans la catégorie junior femme sur son Opus Fhast 1 29er. 

La plus jeune de la famille Larose-Gingras, Mireille (Club Subway/Génétik), a aussi bien fait de son côté en terminant en première position dans la catégorie pee-wee sur son Opus Fhast 1. 

Chez les élites femmes, la coureuse Opus Andréanne Pichette a eu deux solides premiers  tours sur son Opus Fhast 1 29 pouces avant de voir son rythme de croisière diminuer, mais elle s’en sort tout de même avec une respectable 15ième place. La talentueuse coureuse dans la catégorie des moins de 23 ans était toujours en train de récupérer de son voyage en Europe du week-end précédent où elle termina en 11ième position à la Coupe du monde de La Bresse, France. Selon Pichette: « Je sais que je suis capable de beaucoup mieux,  chaque course nous permet d’en apprendre plus sur nous-mêmes, j’ai hâte à la prochaine course.» 

Les élites hommes ont bien performés dans leur catégorie, avec Steven Noble finissant en 21ième position et Mathieu Bélanger-Barette le suivant immédiatement en 22ième et Daniel Varga complète le trio en 23ième position dans un peloton compétitif de 52 coureurs.

Trois fois champion québécois chez les maîtres, Alex Frappier, a livré une dure bataille dans la catégorie maître expert et termina avec une solide 5ième position sur son Opus Fhast 1 29er. 

L’équipe Opus de vélo de montagne voyagera à Hardwood Hills, Ontario le week-end prochain pour la Coupe Canada #3 du 2 au 3 juin, si vous êtes dans le coin venez encourager nos coureurs !

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Podium Streak continues for Larose-Gingras family

Round #2 of the Canada Cup mountain bike championships took place this past weekend in Baie St. Paul, Quebec, and once again the Opus mountain bike team was there racing in full force. 

The Opus sponsored brother-sister duo of Guillaume Larose-Gingras and Frédérique Larose-Gingras started off the day with podium finishes in their categories, with Guillaume taking the victory in the in the Cadet men’s category aboard his Opus Prime 29er, while Frédérique rode to a very solid third place finish in the Junior women’s category on her Opus Fhast 1. 

The youngest of the Larose-Gingras family, Mireille (racing for Club Subway/Génétik), also enjoyed a strong race taking home a strong first place finish in the PeeWee category aboard her Opus Fhast 1. 

In the Elite Women’s category, Opus rider Andréanne Pichette had a solid first two laps aboard her Opus Fhast 29er before she started to fade but still managed a respectable 15th place finish. The talented U23 rider was still recovering from her travel to Europe the previous weekend where she finished in 11th position at the World Cup Championships in La Bresse, France. According to Pichette, « I know I can do much better, but every race is a learning experience and I’m looking forward to the next race. » 

The Opus Elite Men performed well in their category, with Steven Noble finishing in 21st position and Mathieu Belanger Barrette following immediately in 22nd and Daniel Varga rounding out the trio in 23rd position in a competitive field of 52 riders. 

Three-time Quebec Masters champion Alex Frappier had a hard fought battle in the Masters Expert category and finished in a solid 5th place position aboard his Opus Fhast 29er. 

The Opus mountain bike team travels to Hardwood Hills, Ontario next weekend for Round #3 of the Canada Cup series from June 2-3, if you’re in the area make sure to stop by and cheer on the riders.

Mont-Tremblant Canada Cup

The Intense / OGC team supported by Fox suspensions invited Vincent Allard to spend the weekend with the team at the first Canada Cup of the season in Mont-Tremblant. This video gives you a great impression of what's its like to be a racer in Canada and all the hard work it takes to be able to have all that fun. We hope you'll enjoy.

Racers :
Danice Uyesugi
Matt Beer
Vaea Verbeek
Bryden Ridgets
Olivier Laprade ( team head tech)

Dexter Robson, wasn't able to make it up but we'll see him in other video's during the season.

Mont-Tremblant - Canada Cup video

Danice news

It's been a bit of a slow start to the summer weather wise but my M9 has been hot all season!  I can't believe how amazing it feels on every single course that I've ridden so far.  My most recent race was Canada Cup #2 in Bromont, a very fun course that I've done a couple times before.  I spent a fair amount of time reflecting on the weekend afterwards and put those thoughts into my Canadian DH Girls blog which you can read here.

This is my "I crashed a lot" look!

I'm just home again from a trip back out east, this time to Toronto.  After coming home from Bromont I found out I'd made the cut from an audition I'd done a week prior so spent a week in Toronto doing some filming for a commercial.  Thankfully I got to ride my bike for it, so although the trails there were not quite like the ones at home it was still fun to be out there riding my bike! The commercial isn't due to come out till October but I'll be sure to let you know when it does!

Now that I'm home I'm getting ready for a 2 week trip to Panorama for Nationals and the final Canada Cup race.

Thanks for all your support so far this season!  My new helmet is great, and my gloves, stem and bars have been holding out perfectly!


Danice

daniceuyesugi.net

canadiandhgirls.com

ccnbikes.com

OGC / Intense athletes - Downhill Race reports

Mont Tremblant Canada Cup

Race course conditions by Olivier Laprade

The race course was demanding both technically and physically, the rain of the last weeks put a lot of wear on it. The flat pedaling sections were rutted like an MX track!

Matt Beer

4th Senior

Bike: Intense M9 yellow

Just dropping the news from my first race of the season. I finished 4th (4th 2010) in elite with a time of 4:10:437 mins, 2.5 seconds off of first.

I was looking to improve from last year with the amount of training I put in over the winter. Unfortunately I only had one day previous to practice on the new bike and the Tremblant course is awkward even when you're feeling comfortable on your bike. Olivier had the OGC pit setup and was such a help all weekend! Once I got the suspension dialed in, I felt a lot more confident.

4th is a great start to the season, so thanks to everyone at NRG ent., OGC, JJ and Drew at Alpinestars, Jerome and Lacy at the Sports NL training center and Chris at Freeride for all the help!

Vaea Verbeeck

2nd Senior

Danice Uyesugi

4th Senior

Bike: Intense M9 green

Olivier Laprade, Opus/OGC

32th Senior

Olivier's thoughts on his ride: "...with really bad allergies and a cold. but it was a pretty clean run considering! It was the real first nice weekend out and I had to get sick..."

Sean Barron, Martin Swiss rider

Winner, Master Expert 40-49

Bike: Intense M9 red

Fred Belanger

2nd Master Expert 30-39

Bike: Intense M9 red