On September 10 and 12th two ProTour races will be held in Quebec City and Montreal. (www.protourquebecmontreal.com) The circuits, which wind through the city centres are hilly and hard. In 1974 the World Championships were held in Montreal on roughly the same 12 km circuit which we will race on in a few weeks. The major difficulty on the course is the climb up Mont Royal– a tough ascent which shadows the city centre. We will climb it 16 times.

In 1974 Eddy Merckx dominated and won the race. The World title was the final race he needed to achieve the triple crown of cycling: victories in the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and World Championships. In 1976 the same course was used for the Olympic Road Race and then through the late 80’s and early 90’s Montreal held a yearly pro men’s World Cup. Through the 90’s, and until last year, the city hosted the Women’s World Cup on the Mont Royal circuit.

As I was looking through the piles of photos my father has from a lifetime in cycling I found a few he and a friend, Gil Smith, took at the Worlds in Montreal. Some of the pictures are from the track events and some are from the road race.

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Michael

Michael Barry is a former professional cyclist, three-time Olympian, multiple Canadian National Champion, author of four books and is now an owner of Mariposa Bicycles.

7 thoughts on “Racing In Quebec”

  1. Enjoyed the wonderful images.

    I lived in Montreal in 1998 and saw the La Coupe du Monde Cyclist de Montreal road race on Mount Royal.Tough course for sure.

    Best of luck, Michael!

    Cheering from Vancouer,

    Richard

  4. It is great to see some pics of the 74 worlds again, I returned from this event with your Dad in his VW van and worked Saturday’s at Bicyclesport with Mick Brown and Mike making tea and sweeping floors. It was interesting watching you grow up and develop into the great pro rider you have become. Gil took some of my best pictures I have of myself as a young rider. Now 40 years on it’s good to see the example that your Dad gave and the hard work you put in is coming to fruition. Your uncle Ralph is my orthopod so I get some updates from him, hope things are well with you and good luck on your return to Canadian racing, Thanks for insightful writing, Malcolm

  6. Appreciated the opportunity to meet you at the recent Queens Park Grand Prix in Toronto. A cheer went up from the crowd when it was announced you were racing with two broken ribs. All the best!

  7. Wow… je ne savais pas que Eddy avait gagné a Montréal en 1974…. je suis Montréalais et coureur maître B merci de nous rappeler ces souvenirs…. et tu as une belle écriture !!! continu !!

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