Olympians past, present and future coming to BC Superweek

~ Today's top cyclists and past Olympians available to local media by request and at events

Beijing-bound Langley cyclist Svein Tuft still remembers the first time he raced against Canadian Olympic medal winner Brian Walton – even if he didn't realize it at the time.

"I didn't really even know who Brian Walton was until I was with a breakaway with him at the Tour de White Rock the first time I raced there," said Tuft of of his first big race in 2000. "That's when I realized who it was and that `yeah, he's pretty good'."

As it turns out, Tuft is no slouch himself. He would lose that criterium to Walton in 2000, but put the lessons learned that day to good use. Eight years later, Tuft returns to this week's BC Superweek fresh off winning his fourth Canadian National Time Trial Championship last week, and en route to Beijing next month to compete in the Olympic Time Trial and Road Race.

When he edges his wheel up to the starting line for the Brenco Prologue this Friday night to kick off the Tour de Delta and the eight-race, $70,000 BC Superweek that follows, Tuft will be the one others try to measure themselves against and learn from.

So will many of his teammates on locally based, internationally successful Symmetrics Pro Cycling, a team that includes Burnaby's Zach Bell, who will represent Canada on the track at the Beijing Olympics, Langley's Christian Meier, who won Canada's National Road Championship on Sunday, and veteran Eric Wohlberg, a three-time Canadian Olympian who was top-five in both the Road Race and Time Trials at the National Cycling Championships over the weekend.

Just as he did with Walton in 2000, Tuft hopes others use them as a measuring stick now.

"It was a great eye opener," Tuft, whose past 18 months includes three gold medals at the Pan American Cycling Championships, the 2007 overall UCI America Tour title, and the 2007 US Open, a race seen by 8 million viewers on NBC, said of racing Walton.

"That was my first year of full racing and seeing the difference between a professional rider — his talent and experience and just knowing what to do in each situation — you could tell he had it all figured out from years and years of doing it. Just in that hour-long criterium I learned many, many things, hard lessons, and I hope our team can bring that to these events as well, the experiences we've gained over all the years we've done international races, we can kind of bring that level to the field."

Symmetrics won't be alone when it comes to being a measuring stick. In addition to a list of top international pros that includes American Chris Horner, who finished 15th at last year's Tour de France, and two-time U.S. Criterium champion Kirk O'Bee, five of Canada's Olympic cyclists are scheduled to compete in various stages of BC Superweek, which continues with the Tour de Delta's Lehigh Cement Criterium on Saturday evening, and the grueling White Spot Road Race on Sunday morning.  

Racing continues at the Tour de Gastown on Wednesday, July 16, and the Giro di Burnaby the next night, before wrapping up with the 29th Tour de White Rock from July 18 through 20, a challenging three-event weekend (HomelIfe Hillclimb, Bosa Properties Criterium, and Peace Arch News Road Race) with a history that includes being Canada's pre-Olympic camp in 1992.

That seems fitting with many of this year's riders headed to Beijing, and the role that BC Superweek played in their journey.

"It becomes cyclical," says Walton, a three-time Olympian and 1996 Silver Medalist who returns annually from Philadelphia, where he is now the VP in charge of Performance and a partner in Cadence Cycling and Multisport Centers. "BC Superweek is a key component in the development of grass roots cycling, and having a world-class event with top-level professional talent is a key component in development of our future Olympians. BC Superweek is incredible for Canadian cycling."

It was for Burnaby's Gina Grain, who is considered a medal favorite on the Olympic track. Grain is coming back to BC Superweek, as are two teammates on California-based Webcor Pro Cycling team, Victoria's Erinne Willock and Regina's Alex Wrubelski, who will also both compete at the Olympic Road Race this summer in Beijing.

"When I was first starting out the races would bring out role models for me that I was aspiring up to," Grain says, citing as examples names like Canadian Olympic medalist Allison Sydor and two-time Olympian Susy Pryde, who still returns every year with a team from her native New Zealand. "So for sure these races played an important role in my development, and now I think young riders probably mark me and test themselves against me. I know I did with those riders when I was younger."

For more BC Superweek information visit our website at www.bcsuperweek.ca, or to arrange for photos of, and interviews with, the past and present Canadian Olympians and top professional cyclists as BC Superweek approaches, please contact Kevin Woodley, Media Relations Coordinator, at 604-828-5842. Riders are available leading up to and after races, but note that special arrangements should be made for TV cameras wishing to shoot the road race from a designated race vehicle.