The start lists for this weekend’s double header of World Cup races—Hulst, the Netherlands on Saturday and Zonhoven, Belgium on Sunday—reveal that a 27-strong platoon of Canadians will compete. There are at least four Canucks in each of the five races on both days, and the elite women’s events will see nine.
Junior Men: Sagan Goertz, Evan Moore, Tristan Taillefer, Emilien Belzile, Grayson Franks
U23 women: Rafaelle Carrier, Aislin Hallahan, Lily Rose Marois, Nico Knoll
U23 men: Ian Ackert, Liam Sargent, Maxime Stonge, Alexander Woodford
Elite women: Isabella Holmgren, Ava Holmgren, Sidney McGill, Katja Verkerk, Siobhan Kelly, Christiane Bilodeau, Katelyn Walcroft, Mia De Martin, Dorothee Perron
Elite men: Evan Russell, Fabian Merino, Cody Scott, Gunnar Holmgren
On Sunday at the Namur round, Rafaelle Carrier placed 19th in the elite women’s race, and Ian Ackert came 23th, having battled as high as seventh early in the going. Carrier sits third in the Junior women’s overall standings, having come third in Dublin.
Katja Verkerk, Fabian Merino and Liam Sargent have all raced one World Cup and one X2O Trofee round in Europe this season, while Nico Knoll, like Carrier, has contested two World Cups.
Last year, despite seeing little action in the X2O Badkamers Trofee’s elite women’s races, Ava Holmgren, Isabella Holmgren and Carrier finished 19th, 28th and 30th respectively.
Mathieu van der Poel will be making his season debut in Zonhoven.
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