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VICTORIOUS AGAIN – Canadian National Road Champion Zach Bell crosses the finish line of the 133.9-km Peace Arch News Road Race, the final stage of 2013 Tour de White Rock and BC Superweek. Photo courtesy of GREG DESCANTES, VANCOUVER SUN

Bell caps frustrating week with Tour de White Rock win

Two-time Canadian Olympian Zach Bell is best known for power bursts around a cycling velodrome.

By Freelancer on July 16, 2013

METRO VANCOUVER – Two-time Canadian Olympian Zach Bell is best known for power bursts around a cycling velodrome.

Strangely, that left turn prowess hasn't always translated to the tight-corner, one-kilometre criterium races on the road.

He did lead last Wednesday's Gastown Grand Prix for a while before fading to 60th.

Things weren't much better in BC Superweek's other crits as he finished seventh and 18th in Delta, 18th at UBC and 22nd in Burnaby.

But the 30-year-old from North Vancouver by way of Watson Lake, Yukon, put a triumphant cap on a frustrating week Sunday by demolishing the field in the 134-kilometre Tour de White Rock road race that closed the series of nine races around Metro Vancouver.

"I've been doing a lot more road racing this year,” said Bell, the 2013 Canadian champion, after crossing the finish line more than four minutes ahead of German Michael Schweizer after 3 1/2 hours of gruelling riding.

"These efforts I can kind of control a lot better. I can operate at a higher level for four hours than a lot of these crits guys can operate. But they can operate at a higher level than I can right now.”

Bell, racing in Asia and Europe this season for the Pro Continental Champion System squad, said he was "a little perturbed” after a disappointing ride in Saturday evening's White Rock criterium, a race he had won previously.

"I knew how to do it, just some tactics in the end put me out of it again,” added Bell, who did not have any teammates with him at Superweek.

"I said to my wife on the way home, ‘Well, if I don't win tomorrow, that'll be the longest drought all year without winning.

"At least I put an axe into that one pretty quick. This is a good one to get. It's one of the ones that kind of eluded me over all my years at Superweek.”

A world championship silver medalist in track's multi-race omnium, Bell now puts his name on a trophy that reads like a Who's Who of Canadian road cycling.

Brian Walton, Alex Steida, Will Routley, Christian Meier and Svein Tuft, who is racing this year's Tour de France, have all won in the race's 30-year history.

With its steep backside climb and other tough hills, it's often a race of attrition. Only 26 of 76 starters finished on Sunday.

"Generally this is how this one goes, it just falls apart eventually,” said Bell.

Bell didn't. He was as dominant as any previous winner. With 11 laps to go, he and fellow Watson Lake native, Jesse Reams, broke away from a 20-man pack, building a 45-second lead.

But Reams, 24, couldn't sustain Bell's pace and others were left reeling by his "dream crusher” bursts. On the fourth short lap, Bell actually widened his lead over Schweizer by 40 seconds.

"To be honest, I was just trying to keep the group rolling (early),” said Bell, who won stages at the Tour de Taiwan and Tour de Korea this spring. "But nobody was interested in going the speed I was going. I was hoping (Reams) would want to ride with me a bit longer, but he's still got a few years to get some engine in those legs. Especially on the hills, he struggles a bit.”

Bell now will get a bit of a rest at home before heading to Europe for a UCI race in London on the Olympic road course and a couple of stage races in Norway.

"One of them is completely above the Arctic Circle, so that should be right at home for me,” he cracked.

By GARY KINGSTON

Vancouver Sun

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