Never heard of this race? Well, it's not really well-known, even here in Québec. I knew of it, knew that it was a U23 race, but it didn't go much further than that. But as I watched the Giro, tv analyst Louis Bertrand (who serves as the on-site commentator for all big cycling events here) kept saying "this rider was in Saguenay a few years ago, and this one, and this one...". I got interested and wanted to find more, especially as the race starts tomorrow. Obviously the race is young (2008), but it has already featured some very interesting riders... here are some of them who featured there, winning the race itself or just some stages:

• Rui Costa
• Alfredo Balloni
• Sergio Henao
• Ben King
• Arnaud Démare
• Daniel Teklehaimanot
• Jarlinson Pantano

Not a bad list for a 4 year old race... (and you can add most of the current SpiderTech roster)

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I was lucky enough to have access to some very interesting VDS numbers (actually, the same Ted explained in his post), but I had homework to do: find out some numbers. So I fired up Excel and Access and made some nice queries.

So here is what I found. Beware: it's somewhat long and it has a lot of numbers... you may want to take some coffee. And chocolate, because chocolate is good. Speculoos? Of course!

There, you got your food? Good. Anyway you might find those numbers useful when you plan your next VDS season. There is a small part on rider popularity, but after that, it's mostly about parts of the year. You want to know when to a nation, a rider or a team gets points? You'll find out.

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Québec cyclist Arnaud Papillon, Canadian U23 champ in 2010, is suspended for 2 yeas for taking EPO. He announced the ruling himself and said he will retire for good from competition.

Member of the Garneau Club Chaussures team, Papillon was second in the Canadian U23 Champ last June in Burlington, On. Early in the season, the 22 year old athlete won the Grand Prix de Saint-Raymond and the Grand Prix de Charlevoix, two Québec races.

In 2008, he was hit by a car while training in South Carolina. The impact threw him in a ditch. The next year, he had another accident while driving his car. In summer of 2010, the won the Canadian U23 champ title.

You always hope young local riders are better than that, but apparently not.

It's a sad story, but I guess it's not uncommon. Young rider gets injured, struggles and then tries anything to get back at the top. At least he didn't try to hide behind bad excuses, but it's too late anyway.

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After a great race in Québec, everyone made their way to Montréal. The course, while less spectacular, is more difficult with 17 climbs of Mont Royal.

Once again, the weather was beautiful and the crowds were impressive. Good fun to have those races up here. 

It all started Saturday after teams transfered by train. Once again almost every team came out to do a few laps of the circuit. Many people were at the summit, hoping to see the riders and ride a lap with them.

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It was a great day in Québec yesterday. The crowd was even bigger than last year, the sun was out and we had a great day of racing to top that. It's great to have those races in a land where cycling is only starting to get some public attention.

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Today will be the first stage of the Tour de Beauce. Now in its 26th edition, the race has been a regular fixture in the North American racing scene. Australian Ben Day won last year (and in 2007) and will try to be the first rider to win consecutive editions since Levi Leipheimer in 1998-99. Other famous former winners include Jonathan Vaughters, Michael Rogers and Svein Tuft.

You can see a video here celebrating the 25th edition (last year). Official site here

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Another amazing racing day on Mont-Royal. Despite the uncertain weather, there was quite a crowd on Montée Camilien-Houde. Rain waited after the finish, Ryder Hesjedal was on the podium, all in all, a pretty good day. The PdC banner was proudy displayed all day long, allowing me to meet Hons and bought with blood. I really hope to see more of you next year, as the racing is good and the city is fun! September 2011, book it!

PdC was there!

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Early this afternoon, I went to Mont-Royal in hope of seeing different teams doing a little recon of the parcours. And it was a good decision...

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I was there yesterday... amazing crowd, beautiful day... here is a small sample of the pictures I've taken.

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Two weeks from now, it will be time for the Montréal and Québec ProTour events. I know I'm a little early, but I'll be away for a few vacation days so I better do it now. Feel free to bump it back to the top as the races get closer.

I'll try to give my impressions of both circuits, as well as a few photos from Montréal taken last Saturday on a cloudy morning (sorry for the grey sky).

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Hey, since everyone is doing it... I can do it too. But instead of concentrating on the favorites or the sprinters or the various classification threats, I'll go with those guys who animate those long transition stages. Because you can't go on talking about geology forever.

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Now that I'm back home and the dust (including volcanic) has settled here is my collection of pictures from my Spring Classics trip. I may have missed the reports from the other people here, so some things may be similar to things you saw earlier.

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April 4th is just a month away... and now that the deadline is slowly closing, what are the plans for all the people who will get there? As a matter of fact, who will be there? Is there a plan for watching the race as a group (I'd like that)? Is Oudenaarde still the place where everyone will meet? So many questions!

For my part, my flight lands in Paris on April 2nd in the morning and since I want to visit a few things in northern France before I get into Belgium, I should be in the area of Oudenaarde in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday April 3rd. I'd like to visit the RVV Museum that day (Sunday is the race, and Monday it's closed).

My hotel is in Horebeke (about a kilometer from the Molenberg!) so travelling to Oudenaarde will not be a problem.

I'm also planning to see the Scheldeprijs (Wednesday) and Paris-Roubaix. Is anyone else planning to do so?

[Update] Frinking put together a spreadsheet for people going, feel free to fill it in.

Well, somewhat ex-cyclist as she's now a very good speed skater (but still trains on the bike in the summer). Clara Hughes will bear the canadian flag in the opening ceremonies.

She's one of only four athletes to win medals in both summer and winter games. As a cyclist, she won 2 bronze medals in Atlanta (road race and TT); as a speed skater, she won the bronze in Salt Lake (5000m), gold (5000m) and silver (team pursuit) in Torino.

A few years ago in the Tour du Grand Montréal, another competitor didn't have a TT bicycle for the short ITT. Clara Hugues lent her her own bicycle, even if that competitor was one of the favourites (I can't remember who it was). I think that's a great example of who she is.

She's also very involved in charity, especially the Right to Play organization.

I had the chance to speak with her a few years ago. She's a class act, a great person. I'm very happy she got the honor to carry the flag at home.

Ok those are my first two translations... I've done my best but english is not my first language so there may be a few weird parts... it's also the first thing I write here so any editing comments are appreciated :-)

First, an interview by Jean-François Bégin published in today's La Presse newspaper (La Presse is the leading Montreal newspaper). Original is here

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Cyclist Dominique Rollin could become the third Quebecer in history to take part in a Grand Tour. His name figures in the preliminary starting list for the Vuelta, published yesterday. The Boucherville athlete should know today if he's indeed selected by his team, Cervélo Test Team

"Really? You're faster thant me" said Rollin yesterday afternoon when La Presse told him he was part of the nine starters selected by his team for the 64th Vuelta, the third stage race in importance after the Tour and the Giro.

Careful, Rollin refused to get too excited about the number 68 bib assigned to him. The list is unofficial and has four possible backups for each of the 22 registered teams. Still, Cervélo Test Team told him about a possible Vuelta start. Since then, he's sleeping lightly and is "kinda stressed". The 26 year old cyclist evaluates his chances to start at "80%".

"For now, I think I'll be there" said Rollin from his home near Lucerne, Switzerland. "I'm in excellent shape and I'm counting on that right now. But you never know, nothing is confirmed. I don't pull the strings. I prefer to be disappointed rather than thinking I'll be at the start and being said no".

Rollin expects to receive a definitive answer today from his directeur sportif, Swiss Marcello Albasini. If he obtains confirmation, it will of course be "a dream come true".

"But, how can I say it, it scares me a little a three week race" he admitted candidly. "I never made a race longer thant 10 days, now it doubles with 21 race days and climbs I never tackled in racing. Right now, I prefer not to think about it".

In his first season with Cervélo (Carlors Sastre's team, winner of the 2008 Tour) Rollin scored points in the Spring Classics including a third place in the Grand Prix de l'Escaut in Belgium. Late April, he took part in the prestigious Tour de Romandie where he abandonned in the fourth stage. "Each day, I was in the cars (caravan). I had trouble moving" he told. Something was wrong. He understood only a few weeks later what affected him: mononucleosis. Forced to rest for two months, he came back to North America to regain strength. He spent a weel in Philadelphia to meet his personnal coach, Canadian Brian Walton who put him back on track.

Rollin resumed competition last month in the Tour de Delta in British Columbia. He followed by two races in Europe, Brixia Tour in Italy and the Tour of Denmark where he regained is confidence. I raced 10 days in 12. It's a good way to test myself" said the 2006 canadian champion.

"I had no personnal objective. I was there to regain form and help the team".

Rollin thinks the forced rest allowed him to keep his morale up for the end of the season while many riders are resting after a loaded summer calendar. "I'll arrive a little more rested, it's like the beginning of the season for me."

If his selection his confirmed, Rollin will be the second Quebecer to take part in the Vuelta. In 1994, Montrealer Gianni Vignaduzzi completed the race in 121th place for an italian team. Only one other Quebecer took the start of a Grand Tour. Pierre Gachon, a Paris native who came to Montreal after WW 1 took part in the 1937 Tour. He abandonned in the first stage. Mr. Gachon was admitted in the Quebec Cycling Hall of Fame in 1988.

The Vuelta will take place from August 29 to September 20. The start will be in Assen, Netherlands. Two other canadians are on the start list, Ryder Hesjedal and Svein Tuft, two members of the american Garmin Slipstream team.

--


And then, his diary published later this morning on Radio-Canada's website (Radio-Canada is the french part of the CBC). Here he talks about the Vuelta, his mononucleosis and how he came back, Cavendish, Cervélo next year...

The original text is here


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Hi all

Happy times again, I resumed competition and in two weeks, I could face the biggest race of my career: the Vuelta. I've known for a few days that my team Cervélo put me on the preliminary list. 13 riders have been selected and the team must select 4. The decision will be taken Friday August 14.

It's always difficult to cut guys. I've got a vote of confidence from my directeur sportif Marcello Albasini and a few others. My performances in the Tour of Denmark helped me to get a place on this coveted list.

I resumed competition in the Brixia Tour, then the Tour of Denmark. I have to admit I was a little shocked in the first race; I had to find back my marks avec three months of rest, which is obviously more stressful. Furthermore, each day we had 10-15km climbs.

In Denmark, I was more and more confortable on the bike. I even wore the climbers jersey after the first stage, me, a sprinter! That shows the form was there. Of course I kept the jersey for only a day.

I used the Tour of Denmark, to prepare the Vuelta. At the time I wasn't on the preliminary list, but since I hadn't raced since early May, I had to have a lot of race days.

If I make it to the Vuelta, I'll probably be the only Cervélo sprinter. I'll have a lot of liberty, but let's put things straight: I'm not aiming for a stage win. I've never been a massive sprint in a Grand Tour, for me it'll be an occasion to learn.

The route is not for sprinters; there are a lot of climbs and few stages that will end in a sprint.

For Cervélo, expectations are modest. They are going in with a B team. After the Giro and the Tour, Carlos Sastre has finished his season. Thor Hushovd and Heinrich Haussler are also on vacation.

They guys did well on the Tour. Carlos didn't keep his title and finished only 17th, but he did what he could after the Giro. Carlos is a pure climber and there were only three summit finishes, that was not an advantage.

Thor was able to get the Green Jersey from Cavendish, and that's a great feat. With his stage win and the one from Heinrich, the team is happy.

Cervélo wants to keep the most part of the team for next year. They also want to give more support to Thor to be better against Cavendish and prevent him from winning 25-30 times.

You have to give credit to Columbia. They work a lot for their sprint. They know who to put at 1km, they know what rider breaks at 200m, not 300. Those are little details that make Cavendish win a lot.

One thing is sure: you can't run after all the jerseys. Astana was dedicated to Yellow; they had no sprinter in their team. At Columbia it was the opposite: they had no climber.

As for me, before the Vuelta I'll race again Tuesday in the Tour du Limousin. It'll be my first race in France this year; it'll be good to speak French.

See you soon.