Watching the Pros at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec

Headed down the 40 last Thursday to check out the race in Quebec City. It is such a scenic city, there are many vantage points to view the race and enjoy watching cyclists moving at speeds you can only dream about.

Not everyone was able to watch the race. One Coast Guard ship was in port doing some maintenance work.

Lots of fans waited patiently for the racers to pass by each lap and stationed themselves close to the finish for the final sprint.

Some fans were very partisan in their cheering and why not!

Sixteen times around the 12.6 km circuit gave lots of opportunity to see the pros, albeit briefly given their speed. It was a worthwhile trip and a great preliminary for the Montreal race coming up.

Ryder Hesjedal was up near the front of the peleton during the first part of the race, but drifted back near the end and finished over five minutes behind the winner although Canadian Francois Parisien, racing for Steve Bauer's Spidertech team, finished in tenth place only four seconds shy of the winner Simon Gerrans of Australia.

I think some of the riders might have been saving themselves for Montreal as there were sixty-two abandons out of 173 racers who started.