Riders of Team expresscopy.com are ready for the Tour de l'Aude (France)
Montréal, May 17th- The Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Feminin is arguably the most prestigious women's tour in the world. It is definitely one of the longest and most unpredictable; originally four days long, this year the Tour will run for ten days and will include a team time trial, a double day and six 100km+ days!
In 2007 Team expresscopy.com will be the only team present representing North America!
Riding for Team expresscopy.com in the Tour de l'Aude will be Joelle
Numainville(CAN), Anne Samplonius(CAN), Amanda Shaw(CAN), Meshy Holt
(NZL), Jessica Phillips (USA) and Erinne Willock(CAN). Team expresscopy.com will be riding against some of the best teams in the world - including
T-Mobile and Raleigh Life Force,
in addition to this fresh from racing in the US, Team expresscopy.com
is going to have to adapt quickly to European style racing. European
racing is traditionally a more aggressive "elbows out" style with
riders in the peleton constantly jostling for position.
This will be Erinne Willocks, (the Team expresscopy.com GC rider), first race
since her early season knee injury. The Tour de l'Aude is definitely her jump in at the deep end, but after the last four weeks
training at altitude the team will be hoping she is race fit and ready for action. For Amanda Shaw, the Tour will be her
introduction to European racing, and despite the big names present she is approaching the race confidently. Tour veterans Meshy Holt and Anne Samplonius will
be providing some guidance to the rest of the team, "You push yourself
just as hard on a ten day tour as on a one day race - always with an
expectation that at some point the riding will get easier as riders
tire but it never does," says Meshy.
With
sprinter Gina Grain committed to the Pan-American Training Camp in
Venezuela Team expresscopy.com will be looking to keep their racing
unpredictable, capitalizing on breaks and looking for positioning in
the sprints.
Racing starts on Fridat 18th with the 3.9 km prologue in Gruissan. We will be providing daily race updates so check in regularly as it proves to be an exciting tour.
About Team expresscopy.com
Team expresscopy.com/Argon 18's racers ride Gallium, Mercury and Krypton bikes by Argon 18.
With one of the strongest women's rosters in North America, the team
holds a UCI Pro Team licence. The eleven women who make up the team
hail from Canada, New Zealand and the USA and will ride in over 100
international races in North America and in Europe.
With headquarters in Montreal, Canada, since it's inception in 1989, Argon 18 has
created an enviable position for itself in the cycling world. All Argon 18 models are designed by ex-Olympian Gervais Rioux and stand out from the rest thanks to unique designs that combine proven, classic principles and cutting-edge
technologies resulting from fundamental research. Distributed in 23 countries, Argon 18 bikes exhibit an optimal balance between comfort,rigidity and light weight.
In 2006, Argon 18 won three World Championship titles thanks to the remarkable talents of Canadian Samantha McGlone (Ironman 70.3) as well as Danish Torbjorn Sindballe and Bella Comerford from Scotland (LD Triathlon Championship).
Race
Report
Provided by Argon
18
many thanks from Ladies Cycling net
Erika Vilunaite
Silvia Parietti






