Team H&R Block's Mark MacDonald wins Alberta Provincial Criterium Championship, Aaron Schooler wins Tour de Bowness overall!
The three-day Tour de Bowness wrapped up Monday in Calgary with the traditional Tour de Bowness Criterium. This marquis event of the long weekend also served as the Alberta Provincial Criterium Championship. Team H&R Block started the Criterium with two goals in mind: win the Criterium Championship; and retain the overall lead held by Aaron Schooler in the omnium competition. The Criterium started with the usual flurry of attacks, with Jamie Sparling (Trek/Red Truck) and the H&R Block and ERTC/Revolution Cycle teams particularly active. Approximately 15 minutes into the race, a group of four riders escaped the peloton. The group included Sparling, Carson Bannon (TRS Racing), Brian Bain (CMC/Bow Cycle) and H&R's Mark MacDonald. The breakaway built a lead of approximately 20 seconds. H&R was reluctant to chase, knowing that MacDonald was likely the fastest rider in the group. Ultimately, an organized chase never materialized and Mark MacDonald took the victory in front of Sparling and Bannon. Aaron Schooler, second in Sunday's road race northwest of Cochrane, finished in the bunch to claim the overall victory.
Similar to the Criterium, Sunday's road race was also characterized by a race-long 4-man breakaway, which included Schooler, Bannon, Kyle Marcotte (Speed Theory), and Jon Wood (ERTC/Revolution Cycle). The break endured a number of rolling hills and a late race thunderstorm to finish approximately two minutes ahead of the peloton, with Wood taking the win.
The first stage of the Tour Bowness was held Saturday evening – a 1.3km time trial, raced 3-up, ascending the hill at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. H&R Block's Chris McNeil finished second in the race behind CMC/Bow Cycle's Brian Robinson. Robinson finished with a time of 3m27s, eight seconds slower than the record shared by Zach Bell and Phil Abbott. Other H&R finishers included Jeff Bolstad and Schooler, in 5th and 6th places respectively.
In addition to Schooler, Team H&R Block placed two other riders in the top 5 of the Tour de Bowness omnium: MacDonald finished third, while McNeil placed fifth. Next up for the team is the Bearspaw Open, coming up Thursday evening near Calgary.
Photos by Gary Clarke (click "Gallery" button, select "Le Tour de Bowness" album.)
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