Cycling Canada’s track riders had a great showing at the 2022 UCI Track World Championships from October 12 – 16 in France. We had a chance to sit down with three of the endurance cyclists on the team, Sarah Van Dam, Mathias Guillemette, and Dylan Bibic. All three put in powerful performances, with Dylan becoming Canada’s first Scratch World Champion.

Argon 18: The Track Championships is one of the major events on your calendar, I’m sure. What was the highlight of the event?

Mathias: The Madison was definitely the biggest challenge. This specific team hadn’t raced together since the end of 2019, when we were racing junior and U17. So it was big step to be there. This was my first Madison at World’s and there we were at 59km/h, so it was quite the entry onto the World’s stage.

Dylan: Winning the Scratch was definitely my highlight. But I agree with Mathias that the Madison also stood out. Six months ago I raced a Madison at a similar level but I could really see how far my fitness has improved at World’s.

Sarah: The team pursuit was the highlight for me. We took a big step, we rode 4:16.90, and before this we hadn’t ever cracked 4:20. I think the difference was in the prep: we were able to train together with our actual race line-up so I think that was a big factor in our performance.

Argon 18: How did you prepare for World’s? How did it fit into your overall season?

Sarah: We all participated in a training camp right before World’s at the velodrome in Milton, two and a half weeks out. Prior to that I did a lot of training on the road, and I really enjoy that. I like that balance. I think training on the road and the track really complement each other. I had a few setbacks in the road season with Covid, so I had a bit more time off the bike than anticipated this season. But that meant I was peaking for World’s and I had the motivation and fitness to carry into competition.

Dylan: Similar to Sarah, I’ve been training on the road, but also on the trainer. I find I can really get quality workouts indoors. World’s was definitely an important part of the season so my training was focused on that, and now as we’re going into Champions League I’m able to keep that motivation from my results from World’s. I’m also going to put more pressure on myself, and I think there are going to be higher standards. But it’s good to have that kind of pressure.

Mathias: We built up to this event for the whole year, so World’s was the pinnacle of that training and tapering. I’d say World’s was the highest level of fitness I had, and the biggest focus of the year. The UCI Track Champions League is coming up pretty quick, and we’re carrying the fitness pretty well. That’s a big deal for our motivation.

Argon 18: How did you prepare for World’s? How did it fit into your overall season?

Sarah: We all participated in a training camp right before World’s at the velodrome in Milton, two and a half weeks out. Prior to that I did a lot of training on the road, and I really enjoy that. I like that balance. I think training on the road and the track really complement each other. I had a few setbacks in the road season with Covid, so I had a bit more time off the bike than anticipated this season. But that meant I was peaking for World’s and I had the motivation and fitness to carry into competition.

Dylan: Similar to Sarah, I’ve been training on the road, but also on the trainer. I find I can really get quality workouts indoors. World’s was definitely an important part of the season so my training was focused on that, and now as we’re going into Champions League I’m able to keep that motivation from my results from World’s. I’m also going to put more pressure on myself, and I think there are going to be higher standards. But it’s good to have that kind of pressure.

Mathias: We built up to this event for the whole year, so World’s was the pinnacle of that training and tapering. I’d say World’s was the highest level of fitness I had, and the biggest focus of the year. The UCI Track Champions League is coming up pretty quick, and we’re carrying the fitness pretty well. That’s a big deal for our motivation.

Argon 18: What’s up next for each of you?

Sarah: The UCI Track Champions League runs from November 12 to December 3 in Mallorca, Berlin, back to Paris, and then London. I think we’re looking forward to all of them, since it’s pretty rare to have consecutive weeks like that racing on the track.

Dylan: I‘ll get to experience my first time wearing the rainbow jersey in a race at TCL. But it also means that other riders will have watched the videos from World’s and they will try to make the race go in ways that won’t be nice for me. They know now what kind of rider I am, which means I need to diversify my ways of winning.

Mathias: Yeah, I don’t think Dylan can surprise anyone now, but Sarah and I still can! I think we have the added motivation from a good performance at World’s to carry into TCL, so I’m looking forward to it.