Meier reflects on the Tour de Beauce

It turned out to be quite a week at the Tour de Beauce. Rain, crashes and flat tires all played a roll, but in the end, the national team ended up with a stage win and third overall.

On the first day, we lost Hugo Houle to a crash in the final sprint. Although his departure was a big loss, we rallied and executed a perfect lead-out the following day to get Guillaume Boivin the stage win and the yellow jersey. With Mont-Mégantic looming on Stage 3, we decided to veer from the traditional defence of the leader’s jersey and put guys in the break; it worked well. We had Rob Britton in a move forcing the other teams to take the front, allowing us to take it easier and give it our best up the brutal finishing climb. I had a bit of an off day and managed the damage enough to come home in 10th position, not quite what I was hoping for but not the end of the world.

I was hoping to use the time trial stage (Stage 4) to gain back some time on the other contenders and things started out well until a puncture set me off pace and cost me between 25 and 30 seconds. I was still 11th on the stage and moved up a couple spots. I was then a minute and half out of the lead.

We knew the last two stages would be very hard stages to control and perhaps present some good opportunities to make up on lost time. We put on the pressure during the last laps of the Quebec City stage. I was able to pull clear of the peloton for fifth place on the stage and gain back 41 seconds on the leader. That day was a true testament to team work; I went across to the early break with Marsh Cooper and Rob. They throttled it until we got across to where we had Guillaume, who then also pushed the pace. Although we had put in a huge effort and gained some good time, we only managed to get us two more spots on GC. I sat in sixth place.

On the last stage here in Saint-Georges, Que., a notoriously hard stage, we once again got in the mix. Nic Hamilton got in the early move and I did later after bridging across with a couple of the other GC guys. It was going to be a good situation if we could make it work. Once we got across to the break Nic worked extra hard with us and we managed to  crack the group finally. Finishing about a minute and a half clear of the field meant I had moved up to third on GC, the final spot on the podium. It was a very productive couple of days and the team was superb. They committed to me and making the race.

From here, we hang out in Saint-Georges for the national championships later this week. Perhaps we may not all be so friendly come next Saturday!

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