Tour de Quebec prologue and Stage 1

Wednesday evening was the Tour de Quebec’s opening sprint challenge. Riders from each team faced off in a 250-m drag race up St. John Street in the heart of Old Quebec City. It was a spectator-friendly event that served as a showcase and precursor for the four days of racing to follow.
Elliot Doyle (Médique propulsé par Arthur Silber Investment) won the opening ceremonies after a Tuesday night victory at Mardi Lachine. Doyle beat out last year’s runner-up François Chabot (Ekoi-Devinci). Although this evening did not contribute to the overall classification at the Tour de Quebec, it certainly provided an apt warm-up to get fans and racer’s excited about the stages ahead.

Stage 1 of the Tour de Quebec was held on the Island of Orleans. Riders completed a 32.5-km circuit four times for a total of 130 km. After a small crash in the first corner of the race, in which no one was injured seriously, the race continued on. Garneau-Quebecor was well represented throughout the entire stage with Pierrick Naud taking the race’s white jersey as the best young rider and Simon Lambert-Lemay getting the black jersey as the stage’s most aggressive rider. Team Predator Carbon Repair took the day’s spoils as they were able to lead out Emile Abraham of Trinidad and Tobago. He sprinted ahead of Naud for the stage win and the yellow jersey.

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