Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood welcomed back the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix for its 50th anniversary on Wednesday. The last three editions of the race, like so many other events in Canada, were postponed due to COVID-19. American Kendall Ryan (L39ION) became the first cyclist— male or female—in the event’s history to win it four times. Israel Cycling Academy’s Riley Pickrell took the win in the men’s race.
Women’s race
“Man, this is such a cool race. This is probably my favorite race of all time. The energy, the whole lap is just unmatched,” Ryan said. “It’s really special to be back here, and to win it four times with Gina Grain right there in attendance—it just couldn’t be better.”
The women’s field also included two-time Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix winner and three-time Canadian national time trial champion Leah Kirchmann (Denver Disrupters), and 2023 Paris-Roubaix winner and current Canadian road cycling national champion Alison Jackson (EF Education – Tibco – SVB).
“They were attacking the field, trying to wink at everyone else out there just so I could have a shot at the sprint again. For them to sacrifice everything and bring a huge lead out train and bring all the energy was just fantastic.”
Men’s race
Pickrell, riding for Israel Premier Tech Academy, sprinted ahead of the peloton on the final lap of the race, taking a huge victory at the 50th anniversary of the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix.
L39ION of Los Angeles controlled the race for the most part, but Pickrell, with no teammates, had to ride smart.
“L39ION trains took it up with 12 laps to go. I’ve heard about the L39ION train for years, never had the opportunity to race them and it’s impressive what they can do to control a crit. I’ve never seen that before and L39ION rider Justin Williams let the wheel go just in the chicane, I think he was hoping that I wouldn’t notice and then they could go 1-2-3,” he said. “Of course, I’ve watched L39ION race before so I knew that they have used this tactic. So as soon as I saw that gap open, I went around.”
Elite women’s results
1 1:04:41.400 KENDALL RYAN 1 USA 10006655392 L39ION of Los Angeles
2 1:04:41.800 Alison Jackson 2 CAN 10009686038 EF Education – TIBCO – SVB
3 1:04:42.000 Ivanie Blondin 8 CAN 10131417196…
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