SPORTS. The heavy rains of the weekend of June 22 and 23 did not stop the cyclists and paracyclists who took part in the Canadian Road Cycling Championships which were held in the streets of Saint-Georges and Saint-Prosper between June 21 and 24.
“We’ve had a taste of it,” said Francis Rancourt of the Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce, which organized the event.
The organization was treated to a beautiful day on Friday for the time trial event in Saint-Prosper. “We had a good run in addition to having great support from the municipality,” he adds. The event was won by Pier-André Côté, from Saint-Henri, in the Men’s Elite category. Originally from Sainte-Claire, paracyclist Louis-Albert Corriveau-Jolin came in second place in the men’s T-2 and T1 category.
The event then moved to Saint-Georges, in the Rocky Mountain parking lot, for the remainder of the races. “We had quite a race on Saturday for the junior women and elite men. Mike Woods won the men’s race,” said Rancourt, noting that Woods has already won a Tour de France race in 2023. Right behind him came Côté. “He and Woods were ten minutes ahead of the other participants. They decided together who would cross the finish line first,” said Francis Rancourt. David Drouin, from Saint-Prosper, also participated in the race, but did not finish.
Corriveau-Jolin, for his part, had the upper hand over his only rival during the road race.
Remember that the race started from Saint-Georges to Lac-Etchemin where the runners did between one and five laps of a loop formed by routes 275, 276, 277 and the 8th Rang, including the Lapierre coast, before returning in Saint-Georges.
The next day, the weather played havoc with the elite women’s and junior men’s road race. “We still organized ourselves. The rain was one of the difficulties of the race. It was still impressive to see the riders perform in these conditions,” says Mr. Rancourt.
Finally, the criterium took place on June 24 in the Saint-Georges industrial park, a 1.3 km loop, took place without a hitch. All the results of the different events are available online on the Cycling Canada website.
The last time Saint-Georges hosted the Canadian Championships was in 2021. The event will return next year in Beauce.
