The Battle of Quebec

The year 2003 is very special for cycling community in Canada. In October the World Cycling Championships will be held in Hamilton, Ontario. Cycling is the most popular summer sport in many European countries and that velomania has struck Canada on several occasions in the past 100 years. In the 1930s we had Torchy Peden tearing up the pine boards of the six-day races. Many cycling enthusiasts across Canada dreamed of emulating Torchy Peden. In 1974 we experienced the European peloton with the World Cycling Championships being held on the slopes of Mont Royal. That year Eddy Merckx won covering the 262.5km course in commanding style averaging 38.194km/hr. The Mont Royal climb was again used in 1976 for the Montreal Olympics Road race that was won Bernt Johansson of Sweden. The past weekend the professional peloton again returned to the slopes of Mont Royal for the battle of Quebec.

For the past six years the cycling season begins in Quebec with the Montreal Women's Cycling World Cup (Challenge Coupe du Monde de Cyclisme Feminin Montreal) as part of a weeklong celebration in the Montreal area. This Velomania includes the Defi metropolitain, (a tour of 100km, 125km or 150km with 3000 cyclo-sportif participants), Tour de I'lle, (a 60km tour around Montreal Island with 18,000 participants) and the Tour de I'lle des Enfants, (6000 participants under 12 years of age covering up to 20km). In many ways Quebec has succumbed to Velomania with numerous bike paths crisscrossing the countryside. Weekends will see thousands of cycling enthusiasts out for a ride.

On Saturday May 31st, 2003, atop Mont Royal in the centre of Montreal, 100 female elite cyclists from 22 countries, cycled 100km, doing 12 laps of an 8.3km course that takes them up Mont Royal on Camillien-Houde Blvd, a 1.6km thigh-crushing climb.

But the real reason the course was lined with 30,000-40,000 fans was that the two divas of Canadian Women's' cycling 23 year old Genevieve Jeanson and 28 year old Lyne Bessette were squaring off on the slopes of Mont Royal. The Battle of Quebec was about to begin.

These professional elite female cyclists will be the same cyclists that we will see at Hamilton 2003 for the World Cycling Championships in October. So what better way to prepare for Hamilton than by observing their warm-up routine, look-over their bikes and watch as they struggle with the steep slopes of Camillien-Houde Boulevard.

Early Saturday morning I hooked up with my Belgian/Quebec friend Bob Vyncke and we drove into Montreal from St-Paul d' Abbotsford with our mountain bikes on the Grabber.

We parked the car at Michael Gershowitz home, off Clarke near Marie Anne. Michael is a long distance cyclist and has cycled over 10,000kms/year for the past ten years. He has lived in Europe for eight years and cycled all over western and Eastern Europe as well as South East Asia and Japan. Michael just returned from a trip to Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Burma. In 62 days he covered over 4000km and his made to measure Marinoni.

After a good morning coffee Bob and I proceeded to climb Mont Royal on the dirt road that switchbacks the front face of Mont Royal and comes out at Beaver Lake. In a parking lot we found the caravans of the cycling teams and the elite female cyclist warming up on rollers or taking a final look at the course.

The Rona-Esker team looked very sharp with their canopy covered warm-up area with chairs and Trax rollers. Their C-40 Colnago's were all lined up in a row the mechanics given the final look-see. The blue and white race kits of the racers were very cool.

Genevieve Jeanson, from Lachine, Quebec, Canada's best hope at the Hamilton World Championships in October looked very lean and strong as she pedaled hard, revving the bike to 125-135rpms. In looking over Genevieve's bike she had both a cyclocomputer as well as a heart rate monitor ready to work within her zone. She also had a two-way radio mounted in her ear so that she could keep in close contact with her Rona-Esker Director Sportif Andre Aubut, who travels behind the peloton in a support vehicle. Genevieve had been training and racing in New Mexico, Arizona and California and had yet to be tested by the European peloton. The Paparazzi were critical of this early season training and racing regime.

We also saw Jeansons' key rival, another Quebecois, Lyne Bessette, from Knowlton Quebec. Lyne is a full-time professional cyclist with the Saturn Cycling Team and had just returned from France where she came in 2nd at Women's Tour de l' Aude. The Tour de l, Aude is 9 stages long with close to 26 hours of cycling. Lyne looked relaxed and happy. Lyne is the leader of the Saturn Cycling Team and had a huge entourage to support her. She was warming up on her Lemond cycle.

The other teams present included the Swiss Cycling Team, Quebec Cycling Team, Genesis Scuba/FFCC and Verizon Wireless-Cervelo from the USA, several teams from Germany including Nurnberger Versicherung, German National Team. There was the Great Britain National Team, Japan Nation and Austrian National teams.

The field was very hot with Susanne Ljungskog, (Sweden) The World Champion from Zolder 2002 Belgium, Nicole Cooke, (Great Britain) the current World Cup 2003 leader and winner of the road race for Women at the Commonwealth Games 2002.

We climbed up the hill to the Depart/Arrive line and witnessed the sign-in. This is a UCI sanctioned race and requires that all the athletes' sign-in. We watched as the MC announced each of the teams as the climbed the stage and signed in. Then the race commenced as the clock struck 11:30. They were off with police escorts and photographers atop motorcycles and each team had a support vehicle as well as a Mavic wheels neutral support vehicle.

On the first 8.3km tour of the 12 laps the Rona-Esker team of Genevieve Jeanson immediately took control with New Zealand rider Melissa Holt, Erinne Willock from Victoria, B.C. and Catherine Marsal from France. The leaders completed the first lap in 13:53 averaging 35.87km/hr. Jeanson was in 8th place with rainbow jersey holder Susanne Ljungskog on her wheel.

Over the next nine laps that take between 14-15 minutes to complete there was a gradual wearing down of the peloton to a point were the front pack was only 8-10riders. Barbara Heeb of the Swiss Cycling team seemed to love the steep climb and was leading up Camillien Boulevard on several laps. Bob and I walked down the slopes from the start and found a good viewing point. We also visited the overlook parking lot where several teams and cycling businesses had set up caravans selling food and gear. Saturn Cycling Team were giving out posters and cow bells to clang as the riders climbed up the hill.

The pace started to pick up with two laps to go and you could see that Lyne Bessette was struggling. We later learned that she had leg cramps and was unable to keep up the pace. With two laps to go the pace again intensified as Team Telecom attacked first by Kimberly Bruckner and then Amber Neben. Neben managed to get a 30 sec lead before she was reeled in. As they started the final climb Jeanson, Ljungskog and Cooke started to hammer up the climb and with less than 1km to go Jeanson dug deep and powered away. With head down and 200 metres to go Genevieve flew by me winning her second Montreal World Cup Race in 2:51.07. Second went to Nicole Cooke (Aus), third to Judith Arndt (Ger) 11 seconds behind. Lyne Bessette was in 7th place 31 seconds behind the winner.

We stayed around for a while getting the flavour and buzz about the race. Genevieve heaped praise on her team for their efforts to chase down the attacks and protect her. We went back to the Rona-Esker warm-up area and watched as the cyclists warmed down, had meetings with their coach and watched them admire the glass world cup trophy. As we rode off to head back down the mountain following the dirt road we watched as petit Genevieve Jeanson was escorted by a UCI official to the Doping Control Headquarters located in a stone building not far away. The race is not over till they check your blood!

In a little over four months we will again see these elite female cyclists on the escarpment over looking Hamilton for the 2003 World Cycling Championships. You will never get a chance like this to see the best cyclists in the world here at home in Canada. Don't Miss It!!!

Arnold Devlin
Thunder Bay Cycling Club