As we make our way back to Ontario we wrap up another exciting journey stacked with epic racing memories and stories.   The 2013 Tour du Québec provided some great challenges for the five of us representing the Jet Fuel Coffee/Norco Bicycles camp.    Even associate team sponsor Peloton Contracting made contributions early in the week helping with some household repairs for our hosts.  Hey we do it all, even the kitchen sink!

My week got off to an exciting start with a first lap mechanical in Stage 1 that had me spending a lot of energy chasing early.  As I rode through small groups of riders on the road who had been dropped early I eventually rejoined the back of the group, only to discover a split forming in the peloton forcing me to chase again!  This would be a common theme in other stages as well making positioning crucial throughout the week.

As reported by Yuri, Stage 2 was indeed a great crit.  The team cohesion really showed late in the race when Anton, Yuri and Travis pulled off a good lead out resulting in a solid 8^th for Anton.  They definitely brought some good experience (and legs!) home from BC Superweek.   Luc and I had been having fun covering moves and had we not both skidded into the back of a pile up with about 7 laps to go we may have been of more use to the boys in the lead out.   We would both recover from the crash and rejoin the group after a free lap with a few aches and pains to accompany us to the finish.

Stage 3 was a great course making for a challenging road race.   Crosswind flats, fast descents with a short but steep climb and even a residential section with some fun crit-style corners.   With Anton up the road in the early move collecting KOM points, I made our presence known at the front of the group and took a back seat to the chase teams concerned with the overall GC.  As the chase heated up Yuri and I decided to split up Luc and myself to take care of him and Travis since they were our GC hopes, knowing that Anton would be cracked when he inevitably got reeled in.  The next few laps for me were spent with Travis tucked comfortably in my draft keeping him safe near the front of the group.   The ideal position to conserve energy on the climb was on the right hand side of the road, but this meant riding in the wind for a couple minutes leading to the base.  I made that my job, sheltering Travis as we moved to the front.   This was repeated until I spent my last matches helping him chase after he dropped his chain at the top of the climb with 3 laps to go.  He would make it back to the group to finish 33rd, with Yuri taking a solid 12th.  Anton ended up 27th after his breakaway was caught but claimed the KOM title along the way by taking the maximum available points on the day!  (Check out his blog about his epic day!)

The final stage was a scenic and aggressive crit in beautiful Quèbec City.  Anton’s pre race mechanical difficulties had us scrambling just before the start.  But luckily everything was sorted and he got a call up to the front of the group for the start as the KOM jersey champ.  This would prove vital as the race was blown apart immediately in the first few laps. By starting at the back of the field my race was over nearly as quickly as it started.  Gaps were forming constantly in the strung out pack, and no sooner would I bridge to a group and move up positions I would discover another gap to the lead group.  I soldiered on until I saw the lead car arriving behind me with a breakaway group containing Travis and Yuri.   Travis would last with the lead group and pulled off an impressive sprint for 10th despite being held up by a crash in the final corners, moving him up in overall GC as well.

As we packed up our gear to begin our journey home, I reflected on my satisfaction with the consistent growth within the team throughout the season.  Each race comes with new lessons that these guys constantly absorb, good and bad.  They yearn for the next opportunity to apply their knowledge.  We all showed that the Jet Fuel Coffee/Norco Bicycles team shows up to race hard!  And when you show up ready to race hard, good things happen.

Anton’s KOM jersey finding it’s home at the Jet Fuel Coffee Shop.