Montreal hosts inaugural winter Tour de l’Île

Vélo Quebec hosted its inaugural winter edition of the Tour de l’Île, a winter ride in Montreal, where 500 cyclists attended. The CBC reported that the organization’s goal is to promote winter cycling and encourage the city to develop more bike paths that are suitable for winter riding.

The 15-km circuit was routed through several of the city’s neighbourhoods beginning in La Fontaine Park near the Le Plateau-Mont-Royal and around to the Parc Maisonneuve in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, using some of the city’s bike paths.

Vélo Quebec noted an average of 600 people a day use the bike paths along Rachel Street and De Maisonneuve in the winter, only 13 per cent of the summer cycling traffic.

The organization also offers the public its 30th annual Tour de l’Île on Sunday, June 1 on circuits surrounding Montreal.