Cycling
Lachine Tuesdays “are not dead”
After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mardis de Lachine are preparing to start again. For its relaunch, the famous series of cycling criteriums will however be shortened, with five or six events rather than the usual ten.
“Tuesdays are not dead,” said president and race director Charles Coffin on Monday.
The organizer was asked to react to a Facebook post from the Clan Knox cycling team which, with its usual touch of humor, announced the death of the event, with a tombstone in support, last week.
The information quickly went around the Quebec cycling community, which was worried about the disappearance of the championship founded by Tino Rossi in 1978 and taken over by the brothers Marc and Jean-François Néron, from the Cycle Néron shops, in 2019.
“I told several people to show a little patience, pleaded Coffin. We were working on the file, and the approvals are very long [à obtenir]. »
He attributes this delay to the slow resumption of post-pandemic activities, new procedures and a complete change in his interlocutors at the Lachine borough. A background check for volunteers is now required, he offered as an example.
“There are also new measures to close and block off streets and new approval processes in place.
“Usually, for the organization of a season, we start the work and the meetings with the City somewhere in March. This year, in March, we did not yet know if we would be allowed to go shopping. »
Abbreviated season
After discussions with the borough of Lachine and the Quebec Federation of Cycling Sports last week, Coffin thinks it can announce the next dates for Tuesdays in Lachine this week.
“We will not have a full season this year with the 10-race championship as we have had in all previous years, he warned. We will have an abbreviated season. »
The organizer hopes to be able to hold “five to six” events, with the season opening somewhere in July, rather than June as in the past.
In theory, a one-week break would be observed at the beginning of August, so as not to conflict with the cycling program for the final of the Quebec Games in Laval. It was not possible to extend the schedule because of the darkness, which comes earlier in late summer.
When we got our approvals, we didn’t have enough time to turn around and put everything we needed in place to be able to start in early June.
Charles Coffin, president and race director of Mardis de Lachine
Les Mardis must also secure the support of sponsors before announcing the season.
“We had agreements that were automatically renewed. If one expired, we renegotiated it during the winter and we knew more or less what we had [pour la saison suivante]. For two years, we’ve had nothing, and now we’re starting all over again. You have to take it one step at a time. »
An institution “
A sporting and festive event par excellence, Les Mardis de Lachine has been a place of learning and development for all that Quebec counts as competitive cyclists, from Steve Rover to Hugo Houle, from Jacques Landry to Guillaume Boivin, via David Veilleux and Raphaële Lemieux.
A few renowned cyclists have put their wheels down punctually around LaSalle Park, including Cadel Evans, winner of the Tour de France in 2011, and Floyd Landis, a few years after being stripped of his Grande Boucle title in 2006.
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Floyd Landis at the Lachine Cycling Tuesdays in 2009
For Antoine Duchesne, professional cyclist for Groupama-FDJ, Tuesdays represent a real “institution”.
“Yes, it’s only a criterium, but as soon as I was minimal, I went up from Saguenay in a carpool to do the Lachines two or three times a summer, testified the second Quebecer who completed the Tour de France. It’s such a beautiful event, with a party on the last day. Beyond performance, culturally speaking, it’s one of the best things we have in Quebec cycling. It would be a huge loss if they disappeared. »
Charles Coffin assures that the intention of the organization is to return to 10 stages next year.
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Source: lapresse
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.