May 24/02 11:01 am - Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce: Route and Teams Information

Posted by Editoress on 05/24/02
 

Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce Postes Canada

Route

The organisation of the Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce Postes Canada worked extremely hard to discover some new routes for the 17th edition from June 17th to June 23rd 2002.

The Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce Postes Canada will start on the evening of the 17th with a parallel sprint of 350 meters on Saint-Jean Street in Québec. The next day, the riders will discover the Chaudière-Appalaches region during the Lévis-Sainte-Marie stage (165 km).

Wednesday June 19th, the pack will ride 150 km on the roads of the towns of the Bellechasse et Etchemins regions for the Lac-Etchemin/Lac-Etchemin stage. This stage is back for a second consecutive year. During the 4th stage on Thursday, the riders will travel 171 km from Saint-Georges to finally reach the summit of the Mont Mégantic.

On Friday June 21st, the riders will compete in a 22 km long individual time trial at 9h30 near Saint-Jean-de-la-Lande.

The weekend of the 22nd and 23rd will be really important for the riders because several races will take place. First, on Saturday June 22nd, the day will begin at 8h45 with a 112 km half-stage, which will be a loop starting in Saint-Georges towards St-Zacharie, St-Théophile, St-Martin and Saint-Jean-de-la-Lande. This half-stage will end 3 hours later where it started. We have to mention that the bike lovers could compete in the Défi Vélo Mag La Beauce to measure themselves to the same route as the professionals. The day will end with the famous critérium, downtown Saint-Georges at 18h30. The riders will complete 32 loops of 2 km.

Finally, the Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce Postes Canada will end with a 143 km road circuit. The riders will leave the Centre Sportif Lacroix-Dutil of Saint-Georges at 10h30 in direction of Beauceville, Saint-Victor, Saint-Benoît (2 loops) before ending with a close circuit of a few kilometres near Cégep Beauce-Appalaches.


Teams

It is with great pleasure that the Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce Postes Canada present the 19 teams that will be on the start line of the 17th edition from June 17th to June 23rd 2002.

With the goal to have a competitive and aggressive pack, the organisation located diversified teams. 133 riders will be part of the pack, proudly representing about twenty countries such as: Canada, Unites States, Poland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Australia, Italy, Mexico and Kazakhstan.

Several international teams will be back like Mroz - Supradyn Witaminy (Pol), Nürnberger - Versicherung (Ger), Marlux - Ville de Charleroi (Bel), Mapei - Quick Step (Ita) et Tecos-Turbo (Mex). The Unites States will be represented by Saturn, Prime Alliance, Navigators, Mercury and 7Up Nutra Fig with Charles Dionne.

Two new teams will also confront, for the first time, our undulating route. The team of the Québécois Dominique Perras, IteamNova.com and the National Team of Kazakhstan. Team Wüstenrot - ZVVZ from Czech Republic is back after a year off.

Canada will be very well represented with six teams : Sympatico -Jet Fuel Coffee, the National Team, Volkswagen - Trek, Team Québec, Les Espoirs de Laval and Atlas Cold / Ital Pasta c.c.

A quick reminder to pay attention to all the Canadian riders during the Lévis/Sainte-Marie stage on Tuesday June 18th. This stage has been selected to be the tryout for the 2002 Commonwealth Games that will take place in Great Britain this coming July