Lululemon dominate at Gatineau

Clara Hughes

Clara Hughes' victory at the Chrono Gatineau Rona TT would have been more than enough for most teams, but Specialized-Lululemon are not like most teams - as far as they're concerned, why limit success to first place when you can have second (Evelyn Stevens), third (Amber Neben) and fifth (Ina-Yoko Teutenberg) as well?


Lululemon have built up a stunning list of triumphs in their first season and Hughes revealed after the race that the stiffest competition she faced came from her own team mates. "We have amazing TT riders on this team so I knew it was going to be hard to beat my teammates," she said in the squad's official race report. "I felt really good out there and after a hard spring season of racing I’ve benefited from that and I feel like this is the first race of my season now leading into the Olympics."

During the race, Hughes and her comrades wore wristbands showing their support for Doing for Daron - a charity that seeks to raise awareness of youth mental health issues. All their racing at Gatineau is dedicated to the organisation and to Daron Richardson, who took her own life in 2010 when she was aged 14.

"It’s a really good field here so it’s impressive to be able to pull off 4 out of the top five places," said direteur sportif Ronny Lauke. "It was an important race for them and they were well prepared to have a great race here and they all did."

Full results (when available)

On this day...

Maryline Salvetat

Maryline Salvetat, born today in 1974 in the French town of Castres, has been National Under-19 Road Race Champion on two occasions (1991, 1992), National Cyclo Cross Champion four times (2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007), World Cyclo Cross Champion (2007) and National Time Trial Champion (2007). Along the way, she's won the GP de France (1996), a Trophée des Grimpeurs (2006) and a string of important cyclo cross races as well as a silver medal at the 2005 National Mountain Bike Championship.

In 2010 Clara Hughes - the only Canadian athlete to have won medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics and one of the most successful Canadian cyclists of all time - was Canadian flag bearer at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Melinda McLeod, born on this day 1993 in Australia, is a professional BMX rider widely recognised as one of the best jump riders in the world. She has won three gold medals at the World BMX Championships, enough to make her the most successful Australian BMX rider of all time.