Joëlle Numainville - No time for resting
Interview with Team expresscopy.com's 19 year old neo pro Joëlle Numainville

by Bruno Paradis

"I'd do it again". Those three words were heard a number of times in our interview with Joëlle Numainville during one of her all-too-rare moments of free time. Her plate has been pretty full since January of this year, as she undertook to combine her life as a student with her life as a pro cyclist with Teamexpresscopy.com. So far the racing season, her second with the pros, has meant many, many miles on the bike, in cars and on planes.

Regarding life on the road, she points out that "with the two training camps, one in Arizona and one in Florida, the U.S. races this Spring, the Tour de l'Aude and now the Tour of Prince Edward Island, I've seen very little of my parents. Fortunately, since they live in Laval, I've had to opportunity to get together with them while at the Montreal World Cup and the Tour du Grand Montréal.''

Apart from the traveling, there's also the very high level of competition at the races she has been riding. "At Redlands, I didn't have too many miles in my legs. It was very tough, particularly as I didn't have any hill training. I finished pretty far down on G.C., but I'd do it again, definitely. I suffered, but not for nothing!''

On her European experience: "The Tour de l'Aude was sort of the same story; it wasn't the first time I had raced there, but the racing is so different there. I think the whole team needed to adjust because of the really long hills and the much harder racing, as compared to, say, the Tour du Grand Montréal. I prefer shorter hills, even if they are steeper. For instance, I know that many of the girls had problems with the hill at the Mont-St-Hilaire stage (Tour du Grand Montréal), but for me, it was fine, any hill up to about 1.5 kilometers is ok with me''.

On the subject of her racing program, Joëlle offered some explanation as to how some unforeseen events came about. At first, there was no assurance she would ride the Montreal World Cup nor the Montreal Tour. She had fought a valiant fight at Tour de l'Aude, but had not finished there and seemed ready for a good rest. Not so, she says. "In France, I picked up a virus that slowed me down and. (hesitating), the management thought it best to spare me. But I bounced back quickly. On arriving in Montreal on Tuesday, I felt good. The race was on Saturday, with the Tour beginning on Monday, time enough. I wanted to be there because both races were run near my home, so the team signed me up for both. It was Thursday when I heard I'd be riding both races. I can't really explain why, but I felt better and better as the week went on''.

Her 76th place on G.C. certainly doesn't do justice to the race she actually rode. The twelve minutes separating her and winner Oenone Wood (T-Mobile) on the line are largely the result of her crashing during the first stage. In the circumstances, better to put the disappointment and the crash behind her and move on to the Tour of Prince Edward Island. "The racing was no problem there, but the twelve-hour drive to the race felt really really long. For the first two stages, I had nothing left to give, no legs, nothing. I rode the Confederation Bridge time-trial with nothing but a wish to get it over with, period. As time went on, though, things improved for me and while I blew my sprint, I managed fifth place in the last stage, so that's good''.

We spoke with Joëlle on Monday 19th, on one of two rest days she allowed herself on returning from the Tour of P.E.I. Work was set to begin anew the next day on the Bromont velodrome, a day of intensive 500-meter intervals with her coach Eric Van Den Eynde and the most active retiree from the women's pro circuit, Lyne Bessette.

Sometimes, there's cause for concern with developing athletes, that they might be poorly advised, but that is not at all the case with Ms. Numainville; she, her team and coach seem to have their priorities in order, though she plays her cards close to her chest. Wanting to stir things up just a bit, we asked if she had given any thought at all to the criteria she had to meet to ride in the Olympics in Beijing next year. On this point, the final word on the matter was preceded by a laugh and a Cheshire cat smile: "That's something I don't really want to discuss and I don't want you to bring it up! Even if I were interested in Beijing, and I'm not saying I am interested, I wouldn't tell you.''

Well, that having been said, it becomes clear that this is one rider with a future in politics should she ever decide to go that way after her cycling career. Joëlle Numainville's next major challenges include the Canadian Road Championship races and the Pan American Games in Brazil.

About Joëlle Numainville and Team expresscopy.com: Joëlle Numainville rides for Team expresscopy.com. She is presently preparing to represent Canada at the Pan American Games to be held in Brazil next month. She has twice been Canadian Junior Road Racing Champion.

Team expresscopy.com's racers ride Gallium, Mercury and Krypton bikes by Argon 18. With one of the strongest women's rosters in North America, the team holds a UCI Pro Team licence. The eleven women who make up the team hail from Canada, New Zealand and the USA and will ride in over 100 international races in North America and in Europe.

About Argon 18 and Gervais Rioux: With headquarters in Montreal, Canada, since it's inception in 1989, Argon 18 has created an enviable position for itself in the cycling world. All Argon 18 models are designed by ex-Olympian Gervais Rioux and stand out from the rest thanks to unique designs that combine proven, classic principles and cutting-edge technologies resulting from fundamental research.