Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec preview
September 10 is the date of the first ProTour race to be held outside of Europe, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec, and will be shortly followed on the 12th by the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, also in the Canadian province of Quebec. This will be the first of at least five years for the pair of one-day races, the five-year license confirmed by the Union Cycliste International, with the possibility of an extension to 2018.
"Personally I feel the impact that these events will make, but what I am sensing is that it will take some time for the general public to realize what has arrived in Canada," said Steve Bauer. "The cycling community is extremely excited. Once it lands here I think the momentum will carry forward in the years to come. It is an exciting time for Canadian cycling."
Bauer is directing the Canadian National Team for the race, which has the advantage of taking professional Canadian cyclists from their ProTour teams to compete for their country instead, such as Dominique Rollin from Cervelo TestTeam, Ryder Hesjedal from Garmin-Transitions and Michael Barry from Team Sky. Each ProTour team will be second a seven-rider squad to the events, as well as three Pro Continental teams.
"When you talk about ProTour and the best teams of the world having to field a team you know that the quality of the competition is going to be [at] a premium level on those race courses," said Bauer. "Then when you start to pick it apart and realize that you have some of the top guys from the Tour de France competing, riders gunning for the World Championships and they are all in top shape..."
Bauer wore the yellow jersey for a total of 14 stages in the Tour de France, between 1988 and 1990, and used his leadership experience to choose the 10 Canadian riders who will rotate for the seven-rider team in each of the two events, including the David Veilleux and the Canadian National Champion Will Routley.
"The selection was difficult because there are a lot of strong Canadian riders right now," said Bauer. "The challenge is to get the eight riders starting to work best as a team. We have to bring these men together as a unit. The Québec circuit is technical and not as long so it suits our riders better. Being up front and attentive could pay off. Montréal is a classic world championship style race where a rider who is patient and is extremely good can come out in the last couple of laps."
The course in the 400-year-old walled fortress city of Quebec is modeled after a stage in the Tour de Beauce and was once the circuit for the Canadian Road National Championships. The technical, hilly 12.6km circuit begins on the Rue Saint Louis and crossed through the former-battleground Plains of Abraham, and the riders will pass 15 times through the gates of the walled city for a total of 189km.
“The race on Friday as well as that on Sunday will cement Quebec’s relationships with cycling,” said UCI president Pat McQuaid. “I am convinced that the UCI ProTour double header will be the start of a long love affair between the province and cycling. The Mayor of Quebec City is very interested in sports and in order to be on the sport city map you have to host high-level international events.”
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