2010 Tour de l’Abitibi

On the windy Stage 7 roads back to Val-d'Or.

156 riders started stage 1. Because of accidents and injuries preventing riders from making the time cutoff for a stage, only 124 riders will start Stage 7 today. The boys and their bikes were shuttled to the small town of Senneterre situated on a bend in a river about 43.2 miles northeast of Val-d’Or. From Senneterre the boys will ride south then east for 43 miles over flat roads. Today, the northwesterly winds will be creating crosswinds on the course that will be blowing between 12 and 15 mph. This will make the run into Val-d’Or the hardest riding the boys have done all week.

Riders will enter Val-d’Or from the northeast (blue arrow below) then turn right and complete 9 Laps of a 3.1 mile circuit through the town. When they have finished in front of the Val-d’Or town hall (where most of the stages this week have finished), they will have covered 72 miles. The black arrows show the stretches of climbing on the finishing circuit and the red arrows show the parts of the course that are fast descents.

The wind was brutal on the road to Val-d’Or. The teams that were placed high in the overall classification, and the teams that were hoping to move up in the general team classification each sent several strong riders to the front early. These strong riders were trying to keep their teams in the top 5 or move their team into the top 5. They rode hard all the way to Val-d’Or in fierce cross winds. We missed this break and rode into town with the rest of the field arriving at the windy, hilly circuit in town several minutes down on the breakaway group of about 20 riders.

Johnathan Freter attacked the field on the circuit in town. Several riders went with him. Johnathan’s group pulled away from the field but couldn’t close the gap on the lead breakway. Brian Lark attacked the pack and so did Graham. Graham’s group reached Johnathan’s, but Brian’s group was eventually caught by the peleton. The wind and the hills combined to further fragment the field as they completed the 9 laps of the circuit course in town.

Below, Johnathan Freter gets things going for the team on the circuit in town by breaking away from the pack. Here he is racing for the first time since Stage 1 without a bandaged arm.

Brian Lark is trying to leave the group of riders behind him and bridge up to a stronger group that is just ahead. He is pitching an empty water bottle at the feed zone and gets a full one from the outstretched arm of his father.

By the end of the race the lead group of riders that had broken away finished way ahead of all the other riders. The ProChain riders crossed the line in several separate smaller groups that were chasing.

The wide avenue leading to the finish line at Val-d’Or’s town hall is bordered by barriers that have placards that carry advertisements of local businesses and communities. The local citizens beat on these placards to show their support for the effort all the riders make whenever they go by. It sounds like hockey players beating their sticks on the boards to inspire their team mates. When you race on the streets of Val-d’Or, the citizens pound on the placards just as hard for lapped riders in 100th place as they do for race leaders.

When the race leaders hit the finish line for the last time the bells in bell tower (below) started ringing the way they rang during the opening ceremony 8 days ago. For several minutes riders in colorful jerseys continued to race for a finish line in a festive city center that was filled with the sounds of citizens drumming on the barriers and bells ringing.

Thinking of our 8 memory filled days in the Abitibi region, Johnathan Freter had said that morning at the team breakfast table:

“Some things are so good you just don’t want to see them end.”

Watching the last riders crossing the finish line, I strained to hold onto the sounds of the last notes of the carrillon bells that lingered before they were finally carried off by the wind. The 42nd Tour de l'Abitibi was over.

Johnathan had gotten it just right.

• Stage 7 Individual Results
• Individual General Classification After Stage 7
• Team General Classification After Stage 7

ProChain Junior Cycling Team Individual Results For Stage 7

Place	Rider Name	Elapsed Time	Time Behind the Leader
35th	Graham Dewart	02:57:02	00:06:42
40th	Johnathan Freter	02:57:11	00:06:51
61st	Brian Lark	02:58:01	00:07:41
77th	Nathaniel Beams	02:58:06	00:07:46
118th	Neal Forbes	02:29:22	00:39:02
XX	Taylor Gaines	XX	XX