If the Canadian team was able to be represented in the women’s endurance events at the Track Cycling World Championships, it is largely thanks to Lily Plante. Because of the results she achieved this season, but also for the thousands of dollars she paid to be able to race on the international scene.

A context is required to fully understand this situation. By focusing only on the results, the Quebecer did not particularly stand out in Santiago. She ranked 19^e of the omnium, was eliminated from the Madison with Ngaire Barraclough and was stopped in the first round with her teammates in the team pursuit. We will come back to this.

The fact remains that the Quebecer’s sensations were better than at last year’s Worlds, despite complicated preparation. It was a close call for the track rider not to be on the starting lists at the World Championships, like the other Canadian women in endurance events elsewhere.

Plante took part in the Nations Cup in Türkiye and the Pan American Championships with the Canadian team. But she also traveled the world at her own expense for other competitions, without a coach or mechanic and taking care of all the organization. Between $8,000 and $10,000, according to his estimates, in order to participate in C1 and C2 category races which allow you to collect points in the world rankings. This ranking is the one which determines the places offered to each country at the World Championships. Plante also took care of all the planning surrounding accommodation and transportation during competitions.

Naturally, such management wears out over time. It generates uncertainties and additional stress.

“Reservations, trains and buses, accommodation and many other things mean that we spend a lot of energy in the preparation and logistics of the trip. It’s a big mental load that athletes from other countries don’t have, Lily Plante told Sportcom. My great quality is to be resilient, but sometimes I find it boring to be resilient! »

Last year, Plante reached the podium at the four days in Geneva, Switzerland. She then made three additional trips that took her to Portugal, France, Slovakia and Italy to collect points.

It was in August that she confirmed her 12^e place in the world rankings for endurance events. Failing to be one of the 16 countries qualified thanks to the ranking of nations, Canada, 18^ewas entitled to an entry for the endurance races at the elite Worlds.

Unlike last year, on the occasion of her first participation in the Worlds, Lily Plante wanted to lighten her schedule and conserve her strength.

“I find that I have taken a step”

So let’s go back to the results obtained at the World Championships last October. In the omnium, a discipline which includes four events, Plante finished 12^e in the scratch race, 20^e at the tempo run, 21^e in the elimination race and 19^e in the points race. Cumulatively, it stands at 19^e level with 21 points.

“There are a lot of positives to the omnium. I have improved my endurance a lot. I felt good at the end and wasn’t in agony like last year. The result on paper is worse than last year [elle s’était classée 17^e, NDLR]but given the level which was very high, I think I took a step forward. »

That same day, she was part of the Canadian team pursuit team alongside Ariane Bonhomme, Fiona Majendie and Alexandra Volstad. The quartet, which only had a few days of preparation for this event, was stopped in qualifying, ranked ninth 3.32 seconds from the last place giving access to the next round.

“It went really badly and I take a lot of the blame. I wasn’t up to it. I had a bad day and it affected the whole team. We placed ninth, even though we clearly had the potential to do better,” said Plante.

The Madison remains the priority

Lily Plante also took part in the Madison with Alberta’s Ngaire Barraclough. The latter suffered a concussion in July and remained on the sidelines for a few weeks. The Canadians were ultimately the last team to be withdrawn during the event due to falling too far behind the lead.

“We are a little disappointed with that. We qualified on the skin of our butts this year, so we were starting in the last ones. In these races, it’s difficult to get back together because it’s really chaos. We were already starting with a little difficulty and we struggled throughout the race without managing to get to the front,” summarized Plante about this relay event that she would like to complete at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

In the coming months, the Canadian duo plans to go “hunting for points” in order to obtain a better world ranking and thus a better position on the starting line.

“We will be able to make sure we position ourselves well and take the right wheels in the first laps instead of spending energy at the rear. »

Lily Plante’s resilience will remain her greatest asset if she wants to live her dream of participating in her first Olympic Games in 2028. The Olympic qualification process will not begin until 2027, so there is still plenty of time for her to continue her progress.

“I don’t want to give up until I’ve done everything in my power to get there,” the athlete concluded. She will prepare for the Canadian Championships in January which will be held at the Bromont Vélodrome.

(Rome) After Albania, Bulgaria and still a last week at altitude: as has become accustomed to it, the Tour of Italy, the route of which was revealed on Monday, will leave in 2026 from abroad and will undoubtedly be decided just before its arrival in Rome.

Five months after the Isaac Del Toro show, eleven rosy days before breaking down during the penultimate stage against Briton Simon Yates, the Giro 2026 (May 8 to 31) is already dizzying.

This 109^e edition will take place over 21 stages for a total of 3,459 kilometers and a cumulative elevation gain of 49,150 m with twelve stages including the ascent of at least one pass, five high mountain stages, seven altitude arrivals and a “roof”, the Passo Giau, culminating at 2,233 m.

“It’s a more modern Giro with shorter stages, but more demanding,” summarized the emblematic Giro director Mauro Vegni who will bow out at the age of 66 in February after having designed the route for 31 editions of “his” event.

For the first time in its history, the most prestigious Italian stage race will start from Bulgaria where the peloton will spend three days.

This will be the sixteenth Grand Departure from abroad, a movement that has been accelerating since 2010, with the Netherlands (2010, 2016), Denmark (2012), the United Kingdom (2014), Israel (2018), Hungary (2022) and Albania (2025).

From Sofia, the Giro will reach Calabria after a first day of rest where it will begin its long climb towards the north of the country with a passage through Naples, the day before the first mountain stage (7^e), in Abruzzo, 246 km long on May 15.

Without Pogacar

After a single stage on the Adriatic coast, the Giro will turn towards the Mediterranean with in particular the only time trial on the program for these three weeks, on May 19 (10^e stage): 40.2 km as flat as a hand between Viareggio and Massa.

The event will then take up residence in the Alps with a formidable 14^e stage, between Aosta and Pila, including six passes and a new arrival in the high mountains (1803 m).

After a respite with a passage through Milan for an arrival promised to a sprinter on May 24, the day before the third and last day of rest, the sequence of difficulties promises to be formidable.

A short, but grueling foray into Switzerland for the 16^e stage, before the 19^e and 20^e steps which will undoubtedly determine the name of Simon Yates’ successor. It won’t be Tadej Pogacar, the superstar of the peloton, winner of the 2024 Giro, having made the Tour de France and the Monuments his 2026 goals.

During the 19^e stage, the big names will explain over 151 km in the Dolomites with six passes, including the Passo Giau, for a total of 5000 m of altitude difference.

The next day, they will have to climb the Piancavallo twice and its 14.4 km ramp with an average slope of 8.9% and passages at 15%.

Finally, after a long transfer to Rome, the winner will show off his pink jersey for 131 km in the streets of the Italian capital before arriving at the foot of the Colosseum.

“I would of course like to have bib No. 1 attached to my jersey, but I don’t know yet if I will be there. There are ongoing discussions,” warned Simon Yates, whose Visma Lease a bike team could favor the Dane Jonas Vingegaard in his quest for the last Grand Tour which is missing from his list of achievements.

(Paris) Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome is back in the saddle.

Less than three months after undergoing surgery following a serious accident, the 40-year-old British cyclist posted a selfie on Instagram showing himself on a road on the French Riviera. Dressed in his workout gear and smiling, he posed with the sunrise in the background.

Froome suffered fractures to a vertebra, five ribs and a collapsed lung in a training accident in France.

“It’s been a tough road after my last accident, but it feels so good to finally be back here, pedaling and riding on the road,” Froome wrote. Every setback teaches you something…this one reminded me to slow down, heal, and enjoy the simple things in life. »

Froome’s contract with Israel-Premier Tech – which will change its name to NSN Cycling Team in 2026 – will expire this year. He has not yet announced his plans for next season.

Froome won the Tour de France in 2013, then three times in a row between 2015 and 2017.

His career was cut short in 2019 when he fell in training during the Critérium du Dauphiné, a preparatory event ahead of his quest for a fifth Grande Boucle title, which would have tied the record. He fractured his right femur, elbow and several ribs, preventing him from participating in the Tour de France.

After returning to competition, Froome never returned to the level that allowed him to win the Spanish Vuelta (in 2011 and 2017) and the Giro d’Italia (2018), in addition to his four victories at the Tour de France.