An awesome summer quickly turned sour for Canadian cyclist Matteo Dal-Cin.
In late June, he won the Canadian road race championship in his hometown of Ottawa. However, he hasn’t raced since, thanks to a knee injury suffered in training.
“It’s a pretty big blow to the morale anytime you have an injury,” Dal-Cin explained.
“When it takes you out in the heart of the season, it’s tough to give up those race days when you’re in good form. As an athlete, that’s one of the hardest things to do.”
Dal-Cin, 26, will be back in action in the Tour of Alberta, which runs from Friday to Monday. Stage 1 is in Jasper National Park. Stage 2 will take riders in and around Spruce Grove. The third and fourth stages will be in Edmonton.
READ MORE: What you need to know about the 2017 Tour of Alberta
“The first day we finish going up a proper mountain; the last two days are kind of hilly, punch circuits,” Dal-Cin said. “It’ll be interesting what kind of a rider can come away with the win in terms of how they best utilize their team to pick up time on the road and make the most of the stages that suit them.”
This will be Dal-Cin’s third Tour of Alberta. He’s been cycling since he was a kid, thanks to his parents’ enthusiasm for the sport. However, he didn’t race competitively until he was in his teens.
“I grew up playing soccer and hockey because that’s what there was. There is a bit of challenge: if you want to compete in cycling, you have to get in the car and do some pretty solid road trips,” Dal-Cin explained. “It’s a harder path in North America to get into the sport. But I love riding and am super-glad that’s a path I chose to follow.”
The Tour of Alberta will be livestreamed daily here on GlobalNews.ca/Edmonton.