from velonews.com:

One Tough Canuck

Did you catch NBC's same-day coverage of the inaugural U.S Open Cycling Championships? Looked like the race was in Alaska, not Virginia in April.

The start in Williamsburg was delayed about an hour because the TV helicopters couldn't fly in the snowy, socked-in weather. The wind was up and the temperature was down, well below freezing.

It took a hard man to dominate when racing finally began, and one did -- Canadian Svein Tuft (Symmetrics).

Tuft and Patrick McCarty (Slipstream-Chipotle) formed the winning breakaway more than 15 miles from the finish of the 112-mile race. Then on the eighth and final 5.5-mile circuit in Richmond, Tuft attacked and soled to victory 41 seconds ahead of McCarty, who was nearly caught by the fast-closing chasers.

Tuft is described by velonews.com as a "burly and perpetually unshaven" resident of Langley, British Columbia, who once rode a bike equipped with a trailer from Vancouver to Alaska and back.

"I knew [Tuft] was stronger than me," said McCarty, "and I think he knew he was stronger than me. I was blacking out that whole last two or three kilometers. At the end I literally almost fell down. I could barely stay on the bike."

In the women's 27-mile circuit race, Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) took the victory ahead of Jen McRae and Heather Labance, both of whom ride for Advil-Chapstick.

I googled him... he doesn't look THAT hairy

http://www.symmetricscycling.com/team/sveinTuft.aspx



and he weighs around 169 lbs. which is kinda heavy for a pro cyclist, but he's less than 6' tall, which makes him pretty "burly."

Appropriate.

Guess he did well in the temps cuz of his insulating burlyness (burliness?).

Thanks for the story!