Two-time winner of the Gastown Grand Prix Leah Kirchmann will not compete this year, leaving the door open for a new champion to claim the trophy, known as “Forward,” and win the historic criterion on July 15.
She will compete in other B.C. Super Week events, but many other cyclists will miss the July race series because of the Toronto Pan Am Games, which runs cycling events July 16 to 25.
Nonetheless, the Grand Prix already has a record 88 women registered to race and more will likely sign up before race day next week.
Registered women’s teams so far include BMW p/b Happy Tooth Dental, Team TIBCO, Pepper Palace Pro Cycling, Fearless Femme p/b Haute Wheels Racing, and riders from Vancouver teams such as Trek Red Truck p/b Mosaic Homes, Glotman Simpson Cycling, EV/DEVO pb Catalyst Kinetics and Team ATAC.
