Hello Opus

Hello Opus,

Hope everything is going well for you in Montreal I didn’t keep in touch with you lately but I will try to keep you posted on what is going on with the European branch of Opus Bike.

We are right now in Germany preparing for the second round of the world cup on a very selective and elitist course. Things are going well and we are working a lot on Kiara’s back to make sure the pain is not coming back. A French osteopath that treat Kiara since last year gave me tips and movement to do on her to help and it seems to work.

The new Opus Fhast 1 raced is second race last week end and things are good. It took us some time to find the same position as last year because the geometry change quite a lot from Kiara’s special Fhast 1 from last year. The top tube is very long and the seat tube also, but with plumb line and good tape measure and try, we managed to find the good position for Kiara and the bike respond really well to kiara’s solicitation, and believe me, she will ask it for a lot this week end.

Since we are around since more than a year now, people and the international bike scene is used to the Opus brand and that is nice to be recognise as Team Opus. I have attached a few pictures from Germany where we are riding in vineyard to get to the race site.it’s quite a lovely area.

Keep in touch

Sylvain & Kiara

you can see the last 2 article about Kiara on Canadian websites: http://www.pedalmag.com/index.php?module=Section&action=viewdetail&item_id=12991 http://www.pedalmag.com/index.php?module=Section&action=viewdetail&item_id=13119

You can watch the race on internet , it’s in live, so probably to early on : http://www.universalbikeracing.com/
It’s a French website but you should be able to find it : retransmission de la coupe du monde XCO a Offenburg.

World Cup #1 - Houffalize

Houffalize World Cup - Women's xc
Rob Jones
4/20/08
www.canadiancyclist.com

Coverage brought to you with the assistance of Velirium

Houffalize, Belgium, April 19-20, 2008

In a stunning last lap display of power, defending champion Chengyuan Ren of China roared back to the front fron a minute down to win the first World Cup of the season in Houffalize, Belgium. World champion Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon) took the silver medal and Canada's Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain) the bronze. Catharine Pendrel (Luna), after a fast opening lap which saw her move up as high as fourth, faded to 14th by the finish, with Kiara Bisaro (Opus) finishing one spot further back, putting three Canadians in the top 15.

The rain and fog that was forecast for today didn't materialize, with sun coming out just before the start of the women's 4.5 lap race and gradually drying up the circuit as the race progressed. However, in the woods there were still lots of dicey mud holes, as the muddy outfits of many riders bore witness to.

Marga Fullana (Massi) had her usual blazing fast start, finishing the opening loop 15 seconds in front of Premont, with a chase group of Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida), Kalentieva, Pendrel, Georgia Gould (Luna) and Ren forming a further 15 seconds back.

By the middle of the first full lap of the course, Fullana was being reeled in by Premont, with the chasers stuck at 30-40 seconds. Then disaster for Premont when she flatted in the second lap, too far from the tech zone to get a wheel swap.

"It was a slow leak, but I could not make it to the zone, so I decided to stop and fix it," Premont explained. "That let the others catch me and I rode with them for a few laps after that."

Kalentieva and Premont gradually distanced themselves from Gould, Dahle and Ren in the second and third laps, and were steadily catching Fullana. Kalentieva began the last lap almost on Fullana's wheel, and it looked like the world champion would take the lead.

However, to the surprise of everyone in the finish area, it was Ren who came rolling in first, with a substantial 15 second gap on Kalentieva. The Chinese rider gave her usual shy smile and little wave to the crowd.

Premont, in her first race of the season, was well pleased with third. "It has been a hard winter with a lot of snow, and because it ws my first race I didn't know how I would go. But I knew on the first lap that my legs were good, and that I could have a strong ride, so I am pleased that this is a good start to my season."

Pendrel was also satisfied with her race, despite losing 7 spots on the final lap. "I just died," she said simply. "It was one lap too long for me at this time of the year. But I felt really good, really strong on the first lap, so I was riding at the front group and pushing hard. Maybe that was my downfall, that I didn't pace myself more, but I'm confident after this race that it will come."

Final

1 Ren Chengyuan (Chn)                                       2.11.06
2 Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Topeak Ergon Racing Team              0.35
3 Marie-Helene Premont (Can) Rocky Mountain                    1.08
...
14 Kiara Bisaro (Can)                                          6.57

Canada's Bisaro 2nd

Photos : Sylvain Badia

Superprestigio Massi CC
by pedalmag.com

April 14, 2008 - Canada's Kiara Bisaro (Can) Opus finished second yesterday in the Elite Women's race at the Massi International yesterday in Barcelona, Spain. Cecile Ravanel (Fra) Lapierre International won the race 51s ahead of Bisaro. Spain's Anna Villar (Spa) Massi finished third.

In the Elite Men's competition, it was Spain's Ivan Alvarez (Spa) Giant Italia who took the win, crossing the line 23s ahead of Juan Pedro Trujillo (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros. Alejandro Diaz de la Pena (Spa) C.C.Tierra was third. Canada's Seamus McGrath (Can) Fuji placed sixth.

Elite Women
1. Cecile Ravanel (Fra) Lapierre International 1:08:04
2. Kiara Bisaro (Can) Opus at 0:51
3. Anna Villar (Spa) Massi 1:11
4. Francisca Campos (Chi) Massi 2:27
5. Sandra Santanyas (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros 4:21
6. Maaris Meier (Est) Alexela Rademar A 6:18
7. Cristina Mascarreras (Spa) Conor-La Siesta 6:49
8. Mercé Tusell (Spa) Massi 7:14
9. Beatriz Gallego (Spa) Bicis Monje 10:42
10. Mercè Pacios (Spa) Bicisprint-Torras 11:36

Elite Men
1. Ivan Alvarez (Spa) Giant Italia 1:29:11
2. Juan Pedro Trujillo (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros at 0:23
3. Alejandro Diaz de la Pena (Spa) was third. C.C.Tierra 0:27
4. Cedric Ravanel (Fra) Lapierre International 0:55
5. Marti Gispert (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 1:17
6. Seamus McGrath (Can) Fuji 2:02
7. Carlos Coloma (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 2:20
8. Oriol Morata (Spa) Inpanasa-Basoli 4:06
9. Sergio Mantecon (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros 4:28
10. Joan Llordella (Spa) Ambisist) 5:25

Bisaro Second in Spain, again !

Bisaro Second in Spanish Gran Premio
Courtesy Sylvain Badia

Photos

We were in Barcelona this weekend (April 13th) to race the Super Prestigio MassiI y Gran Premio Massi '08 in Barcelona.

The race was held in the Olympic park and around the Montjuïc Castle from where you have a great view of the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the city of Barcelona on the other side.

The multiple events have been put together by ocisport.net and you could enjoy a big bike show gathering all the bike industry, a round of the UCI MTB Trial World Cup and the Super Prestigio Massi, a class 1 UCI race counting as the third round of the Gran Premi Massi Copa Catalana International.

Two Canadians were racing on the weekend in the elite categories - Kiara Bisaro (Team Opus-OGC) and Seamus McGrath (Team Fuji).

The course was not very technical but had a lot of slippery corners that were difficult to negotiate, and by misjudging your speed or your line, you could have a bite of the Catalan dust.

The weather was great with over 23C on both days of the weekend, allowing racers to wear their short sleeves and work on their tan lines.

In the women's race, Kiara Bisaro and her Opus Fhast 1 took a strong start with Cecile Rode-Ravanel (Team Lapierre) and Anna Villar (Team Massi). These three girls stayed very close all the race, until in the third lap Cecile Ravanel opened a gap on Kiara and took the lead until she crossed the finish line. After 4 laps Cecile Rode-Ravanel crossed the line for first place, following by Kiara Bisaro and Anna Villar to complete the podium.

1 Cecile Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 1:08:04
2 Kiara Bisaro (Can) Team Opus-OGC at 0:51
3 Anna Villar (Esp) Massi 1:11
4 Francisca Campos (Esp) Massii 2:27
5 Sandra Santanyes (Esp) Cemelorca Seguros 4:21

Kiara Bisaro 2nd in Spain

Kiara Bisaro in Spain
Courtesy Sylvain Badia

GP MAssi CCI BTT de Corro d'Amunt

Saturday morning (March 29th) we headed to a Massi Cup in Corro D'Amunt, Spain for the first race of the season. Kiara arrived in Europe Wednesday night and we are staying in south of France for the next few weeks before the world cups. It was a short travel to the race site, only 300 km and it was nice to find some warm weather.

All the team of ocisport (the organisation committee that will be in charge of the world cup in Vallnord) did a great job in organising the race. Special thanks to Albert.

Kiara: "We started behind over 100 guys and ended up catching them on the first climb where everyone was walking. That broke up the women's race because it was really hard to pass. The course was super fast and not very technical which is just what I have not been doing all winter so it was perfect practice.

We headed back to France right after the race. I am now looking forward to 2 weeks of solid training, hopefully with the sun!"

Elite Women
1. Margarita Fullana (Massi)	1:19:55
2. Kiara Bisaro (Opus Bikes)	at 2:31
3. Rosara Joseph (Pegasus Cycling)	3:19
4. Anna Villar (Massi)	4:01
5. Sandra Santanyes (Cemelorca-Seguros)	8:22
6. Neus Parcerisas (Ambisist)	9:15
7. Merce Tusell (Massi)	11:26
8. Cristina Mascarreras (Conor-La Siesta)	12:15
9. Mariona Catedra (Cicles Ayats-Guix)	19:05
10. Nuria Lauco (Alpcross-Bp'S)	20:04

The results of the first 5 world cups plus the results at the world championships will determine who gets to represent Canada at the Beijing Olympics this summer. World cup season opener is in Belgium on April 19th.
Lets all wish her luck!