If Kendall Ryan felt any fatigue after flying to Vancouver for BC Superweek, she certainly didn’t show it.
The three-time US national champion arrived the afternoon of Saturday’s Tour de Delta Ladner Criterium and decided to give it a go — winning the race for the second straight year.
“I decided ‘What the hell?’, I'm here two hours early and just wanted to hop in with my teammates and have some fun,” said Ryan, who rides for Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank.
Canadian National Criterium Champion Allison Beveridge also made up part of a stacked women’s field and finished second. Her presence was certainly felt by the other riders, despite the Calgary native downplaying the significance of having a target on her back.
“I just tried to have some fun out there. There wasn't a ton of pressure, I kind of sat on the back of Tibco's lead out,” said Beveridge, who was part of the 2016 Canadian Olympic team in Rio which won bronze in the team pursuit, setting a national record in the process.
Ryan knew all too well that Beveridge would push for a spot on the podium.
“Allison is pretty modest, she's one of the people I was looking out for in the sprint,” the Ventura, California native explained. “I just decided to ride myself into the race and save my legs for the road race, it's a big one. My teammates just had some fun getting the primes and they led me out flawlessly and all I have to do is thank them.
Ryan won all three races at the Tour de Delta and reached the podium six times during BC Superweek in 2018.
Kiwi rider Georgia Danford came third
Saturday’s race was affected by a large crash a half a lap in as a group of riders misjudged one of the early corners and the race was restarted. It caused the circuit to be shortened from 50 laps to 45 and the distance from 45 kilometres to 40.5.
The riders now turn their attention to Sunday’s White Spot | Delta Road Race in Tsawwassen - it’s big for all the teams.
"UCI points on the line for us, we're always gunning for those,” added Ryan. “It's one of my favourite courses, really flowy with lots of room for tactics and hard racing. We're looking forward to it and we're going to give it our all."
The women race at 9:30 am while the men take the course at 1 p.m. Live streaming of the race is available at tourdedelta.ca
