ST-GEORGES, Quebec - Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C., won his fourth title in the men's 40-kilometre time trial Friday at the Canadian road cycling championships.
Anne Samplonius of Montreal won her second title in the women's 20-km time trial, David Veilleux of Quebec City captured the under-23 men's category and Julie Beveridge of Calgary took the women's under-23 event.
In an event where the time differences are usually measured in seconds, Tuft's winning time of 51 minutes 23 seconds was nearly two minutes ahead of second-place finisher Ryan Roth of Bright, Ont., with third place going to Whitehorse's Zach Bell a further minute behind.
Tuft, who will represent Canada at the Beijing Olympics in both the time trial and road race events, called his performance "the best 40K time trial of my life."
Samplonius, the defending champion, won a close women's race with a time of 29 minutes 59 seconds, less than 4.5 seconds ahead of Julie Beveridge of Calgary and Alex Wrubleski of Regina.
For Samplonius, the win was tinged with disappointment, as she found out a few days earlier that her appeal to win a spot on the Canadian team for the Olympic Games was denied. Samplonius beat the three Olympic athletes - Wrubleski, Erinne Willock of Victoria and Leigh Hobson of Cambridge, Ont. - to win the time trial title.
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