Luxemburg | Simone Boilard heads for the top-15 in the prologue

(Montreal) By ranking 15^and of the prologue of the Elsy Jacobs Festival, Simone Boilard (Saint-Michel-Auber93) was the best Canadian, Friday, on the 2.2 kilometer course in the streets of Cessange, in Luxembourg. The cyclist from Quebec maintained an average speed of 39,799 km/h to lag behind the winner, Briton Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) by 10 seconds.

Boilard edged Canadian time trial champion Alison Jackson (Liv Racing Xstra) by one second, 17^and of the day. An even more surprising result for the Quebecer, because she decided not to use her time trial bike, preferring her road bike, in order to better relaunch herself when coming out of the turns.

“I had never made an effort like that and it will allow us to play our cards (for the stages to come)”, explained the 21-year-old athlete to Sportcom. “I took my road bike with a solid wheel. I preferred to go there with power and I wouldn’t have been comfortable enough with my time trial bike. There, I look at the results and all the girls in front of me had a time trial bike. But hey, it’s such a short effort. »

The other Quebecers present, Olivia Baril (Valcar-Travel & Service) and Magdeleine Vallières-Mill (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) respectively finished 28^and (+13 seconds) and 51^and (+17 seconds).

Step by step, Boilard is returning to the international stage after an absence of more than two years where she had been sidelined due to numerous health issues. The one who was bronze medalist and fifth in the time trial at the 2018 Junior World Championships is enjoying herself in her new team which takes part in two races of the Word Tour and of a lesser scale.

A perfect combination in his eyes.

“This year is the first time that the team is at UCI (International Cycling Union) level, so we are discovering the races and it is difficult to have ambitions in terms of results. Today (Friday) is setting a good tone, but the fact remains that it’s only handfuls of seconds and tomorrow the race will be super aggressive because everyone will be fighting for the bonus seconds. The race therefore remains open. »

The Quebecer is the best placed on her team in the provisional standings, but that will not automatically make her the protected rider for the last two stages.

“I think the team’s plan is going to be to survive the next two days. »

Saturday’s stage will be a 121 kilometer road circuit, starting and finishing in Steinfort, still in Luxembourg.