2010 Tour de l’Abitibi

Nathanial Beams approaches a corner on a city street of Barraute on the Stage 2 road to Val-d'Or.

For the start of Stage 2, the 148 Tour de l'Abitibi riders were shuttled to Amos, Quebec, a small town 100 km north of Val-d’Or.

The riders followed flat, arrow straight, tree lined roads southeast to Barraute then turned and rode south back to Val-d’Or. From Amos to Val-d’Or via Barraute it was 95.0 kilometers or 59 miles.

Once the riders reached Val-d’Or they entered the city from the northeast (blue arrow) turned right and completed 3 laps (6 miles) of the same circuit that ended Tuesday’s Stage 1 race. The black arrows show the climbs on the circuit and the red arrows show the fast descents. The total distance covered in Stage 2 was 65 miles. When it was over the race averaged 28.1 miles per hour.

After raining hard overnight and most of the morning, the rain diminished as the we got closer to the start of Stage 2. Waiting for the race to start, the team warmed up on the roads around Amos.

By the time the riders were lining up at the starting line, the temperatures were in the upper 60’s, the clouds were breaking up and the people of Amos began to line the streets.

With the rain subsiding and community celebration going on around us, things were looking better. Everyone was glad that Johnathan Freter was going to be able to start Stage 2. Johnathan fell hard in Stage 1 but finished the race, making the time cut that eliminated 10 riders from continuing the Tour de l'Abitibi. When the doctor treating Johnathan heard Johnathan say that he wanted to start Stage 2, the doctor winced, but gave his approval.

The race started. 10 minutes into the race the caravan was held up. Twenty riders had fallen in a crash. When you are in a team car in the caravan, each team car is following the race to feed riders and fix bikes. All of the team cars have a radio that receives information from the caravan communication car at the front of the race. The motorcycles moving up and down the peleton communicate to the main communication car and the main communication car then calls out over the radio the names of the teams that need to have their support car come forward in the caravan to help fallen riders or deliver food. We brace ourselves when the caravan stops and the radio starts broadcasting the names of the teams that have riders that have gone down in a crash. This crash 10 minutes into the race blocked the road with fallen riders but our car was not called to the front. It was a huge crash but all of our riders missed it today.

The race continued south over long stretches of relatively flat road. The pavement is starting to dry.

The photograph above was taken by Paul Brindamour. Used with permission.

All 6 Team ProChain riders were positioned well in the pack heading into town. About 5 miles outside of Val-d’Or, the pack was chasing a breakaway of 7 riders. In the team car which was positioned 9th in the caravan, we were starting to feel like the team was going to make it through today’s stage without a crash. Then the race radio came on and called Team ProChain’s support car to the front of the caravan to assist a fallen rider.

Adrenalin levels spiked, partly from the news over the radio, partly from the acceleration of the team car.

Team Driver Charlie Rabinowitz skillfully squeezed the Prius through riders and other team cars to get our team mechanic, Cory St Clair, to the fallen rider. Today it was Graham that had been in a crash. Cory got Graham and Graham’s bike in rideable condition quickly. However, by the time Graham was back on his bike, the pack was out of sight, chasing the breakaway of 7 riders at 28 mph. To catch back up with the peleton, Graham rode in the draft of the team car. In the picture below Graham has gone around the team car and is pulling ahead of the team car. The next rider further up the road is teammate Johnathan Freter. Johnathan knew that Graham had crashed and was waiting to help pull Graham back up to the pack. Johnathan Freter lost time today by waiting to help a team member. It was a huge contribution that was felt physically and emotionally.

Soon after the picture below was taken the race radio reported “Rider #162 has now rejoined the pack.”

Johnathan Freter had helped Graham get back to the tail end of the pack just as race was entering the circuit course in Val-d’Or. On the finishing circuit, Nathaniel Beams, Brian Lark, Taylor Gaines and Neal Forbes all helped Graham move from the back of the pack to the front. There was a three rider breakaway the pack was chasing. Neal had a flat tire on one of the last laps after helping Graham move up. The pack caught one of the riders in the breakaway. Then Graham, Brian, Nathaniel, and Taylor all finished with the same time with Neal and Johnathan close behind.

The ProChain Junior Cycling Team put on a fine display of team racing on the road to Val-d’Or today.

• Stage 2 Individual Results
• Individual General Classification After Stage 2
• Team General Classification After Stage 2

ProChain Junior Cycling Team Individual Results For Stage Two Amos to Val-d’Or 105 Kilometer Road Race

Place	Rider Name	Elapsed Time	Time Behind the Leader
13th	Graham Dewart	02:20:34	00:00:23
40th	Brian Lark	02:20:34	00:00:23
59th	Nathaniel Beams	02:20:34	00:00:23
83rd	Taylor Gaines	02:20:34	00:00:23
85th	Neal Forbes	02:23:41	00:03:30
110th	Johnathan Freter	02:24:17	00:04:06