Former mountain bike specialist Lars-Petter Nordhaug reached the top of his career on the road on Sunday when he outshone the favourites to win the third edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal over 205.7 kilometers.

Winner of Friday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec held in Québec City, Simon Gerrans is bidding to become the first rider to score a Canadian double in the Montréal leg of the GPCQM on Sunday.

Team Sky’s Canadian rider puts an end to his career on Sunday in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, a special moment for the Toronto-born.

Simon Gerrans was the in-form man of the beginning of the year and the Australian is obviously still at is best in the ending season as he proved by winning the third edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on Friday.

Zach Bell and Remi Pelletier-Roy beat some of the best sprinting specialists in the world to score an emphatic Canadian one-two in the Challenge Sprint Pro held over one kilometre on Québec City’s Grande Allée on Thursday.

Pierrick Fedrigo, the French rider from team FDJ-Big Mat, is looking forward to Friday's Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on a course he relishes.

World Championship silver-medallist Matthew Goss (Orica Greenedge) is excited to be part of Thursday’s innovative Challenge Sprint Pro invented by GPCQM president Serge Arsenault and for which he will be one of the leading favourites. That a sprinter of his stature simply chose to be at the start of the one-kilometre event launched last year as a curtain raiser for the Grand Prix Cycliste du Québec is already ample proof that riders are intrigued by the new format and eager to try the experience.”

Among the favorite riders of this third edition, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, French Thomas Voeckler, British Geraint Thomas and Slovak Peter Sagan revealed this wednesday afternoon their ambitions before the Grand Prix Cyclistes in Québec City (on friday) and Montreal (on sunday). 

After two successful editions of the Québec City and Montréal Grands Prix Cyclistes, Serge Arsenault is convinced the two races he created have definitely won the hearts of the world’s greatest riders.

Norwegian rider Edvald Boasson Hagen, 25 years old, will be part of the 2012 edition of the Québec City and Grands Prix Cyclistes, announced Sky Team (his team).

In just a few days, the world’s best cyclists will arrive in Québec looking to earn victory in the UCI WorldTour events! Here’s a look at what’s in store during the week of the Québec City and Montréal Grands Prix Cyclistes.

Follow the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec strategic point of the race. Close to the majestic Château Frontenac and the Flamme Rouge, which marks the circuit’s final kilometer, these are prime seats!

Thomas Voeckler, on the phone from the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, a stage race in western France, answered a few questions from the Québec media.

The only Canadian outfit in the field amidst 18 of the best teams in the world, SpiderTech, led by Steve Bauer – fourth in the 1988 Tour de France – are determined to shine this week on home turf.

The Spanish riders of Basque team Euskaltel look jinxed in Quebec City – last year, eight of them crashed in training and the same mishap struck again this year when six of them piled up as they were checking the course for Friday’s Grand Prix Cycliste.

While the Grand Prix Cyclistes de Québec and Montreal are about to take place for the second time over the weekend, race president Serge Arsenault and Québec City mayor Régis Labeaume confirmed their plan to hold a GranFondo event in the near future in La Belle province.

Québec City mayor Regis Labeaume launched the second UCI WorldTour week in the city on Wednesday by stressing that cycling was in the genes of its countrymen.

When Cadel Evans rode to victory in the 2011 Tour de France at the age of 34 years and 5 months, a life devoted to cycling brought hard-won recognition.

Here’s our correspondent’s view of how this year’s Tour played out.

It’s a rest day on the Tour de France, Monday, July 18. We’re in the heart of Provence. In distance are the Alps, the next—and final—plat de résistance for the peloton. It’s a gentle start to the third week, before the race heads into the mountains. Teams are tired; riders need the break. They’ll spend a few hours on their bikes to keep up the cadence, then get plenty of rest and relaxation, both physical and mental, before returning to the heat of battle.

Ryder Hesjedal, the best Canadian road racer since Steve Bauer, is sharing his impressions with us regularly as the season unfolds. We caught up with him a few days ago in Belgium, where he competed in three of the best-loved Classics on the WorldTour circuit: the Amstel Gold Race, the Flèche Wallonne (13th place) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (29th).

Thomas Voeckler has picked up this season where he left off last—arms raised in victory. On the Tour Méditerranéen and the Tour du Haut Var, two races in the south of France, the French champion was the first to cross the finish line, showing his excellent physical condition, just as he did last September with his Quebec City win.

Leaders

In a cycling competition, the team constantly adjusts to the changing terrain. In stage races, teammates protect the all-rounder, who is strong in the mountains as well as in time trials and therefore has the best chance of placing near the top in the overall standings. In one-day races, the leader is the rider whose qualities best match the course profile and the race strategy.

The entire team works for the leader, shielding him from the wind, providing refreshments, and keeping him from expending superfluous effort so he can save strength for decisive moments in the race.

Maxime Bouet: Life as a road racer

Maxime Bouet, the great hope of French cycling, is 24 years old. An age when every ambition, and every desire, is possible. This young an has built his life on two wheels, with courage as his weapon of choice and his blond locks flowing out from under his helmet. He turned professional in 2008 and racked up four wins last year.

Over the past two years, actor Ben Stiller has become quite the pro cycling fan. He took in a stage of the Tour de France last year, and this past Saturday he was an attentive spectator at the Tour prologue in Rotterdam, where he began the day visiting with buddy Lance Armstrong, and then spent a long time hanging with the BMC team.

There are races that last one day. And there are races that go on for three weeks. Monuments steeped in history that are the stuff of cycling legend and fixtures on the international calendar, and new events looking to stake their place and ensure their longevity.

On our shores, of course, enthusiasm for bicycle racing is nowhere near as intense as in Europe, but it is interesting nonetheless to learn that the sport has attracted a fair degree of interest in this part of the world since the late 19th century.

Any fan who followed international cycling in the 1980s and ’90s knows the name Steve Bauer. Hailing from St. Catharines, Ontario, this athlete rode into the history books as Canada’s most famous cyclist.

Former world number-one cyclist Charly Mottet has joined the Grand Prix Cycliste ProTour Québec City and Montréal organizing committee. The team is pleased and proud to welcome him as Sports Manager.