Kendall Ryan may be paying close attention to the exchange rate between the American and Canadian dollar.
The 24-year-old rider for Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank won Friday’s second annual PoCo Grand Prix in a sprint finish to the line that just edged out Maggie Coles-Lyster, from Maple Ridge.
Ryan’s win was her third in this year’s BC Superweek series of nine races around Metro Vancouver. She won the road race at the Tour de Delta and last Wednesday’s Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix.
Ryan said she made the best of the support she received Friday from her small team to put herself in a prime position in the last of the race’s 40 laps.
“We only had three girls today, so we had a little bit of extra work for us,” said Ryan, who stomped on the pedals in the last turn onto Shaughnessy. “As soon as somebody hit the gas, I just raced for the last corner because I knew I could hold to the line.”
The trifecta of wins put $17,000 into Ryan’s pocket. Unfortunately for the American cyclist, that’s in Canadian dollars. And her exchange will go even less far as she prepares to race at the Prudential RideLondon Classique in London, England, that begins July 29.
In the men’s race, most of the drama occurred a couple of hundred metres short of the finish line when New Zealand’s Campbell Stewart and a rider from Garneau Quebecor collided just before the last corner. The Garneau rider went down hard, while Stewart charged to victory ahead of about a half-dozen pursuers.
It was the second victory in as many nights for the 18-year-old New Zealander. He also stood atop the podium at Thursday’s Giro di Burnaby.
Stewart said the Garneau team had been protagonists throughout the race, but that may have cost them at the end.
“A few of them kind of faded,” Stewart said. “A few other teams came forward with me and just sprinted for the line.”
