Hermano and I traveled by train to Montreal today for tomorrow's GP race. Walking the short few blocks to the hotel, we saw several riders from Lotto and a couple of other teams returning to the hotel from their training rides and as we approached the check in desk, there was Jesus Hernandez, complete with bike, trying to sort out a problem.
Our room wasn't ready yet so we happily hung out in the lobby and, since there were plenty of other fans grabbing riders for photos and autographs, I went in for a few photos myself. Below: Gert Dockx.
Peter Sagan is easy to spot under the worst of circumstances, so when he wears the cowboy hat he won at last week's Tour of Alberta, he is unmissable.
Simon Geschke was happy to take a photo with me.
A few of the Garmin boys had finished their ride and we eagerly watched to see who was walking through the door first. I'm not sure how long a nanosecond technically is, but I would guess it took us each less than half a nanosecond to recognize Christian Vande Velde, one of our absolute favorite riders in the whole peloton. It was awfully kind of him to pose for a picture with Hermano as I gushed about how excited we both were to meet him.
Jonathan Castroviejo agreed to take a photo with me.
I was at the Tour for Matteo Trentin's stage win so I was really happy to get a picture with him.
The rest of Movistar filed in and I got a photo with current Spanish national road champion, Jesus Herrada (who I will forever think of as “sweet little baby Jesus” after the race announcer interrupted his French commentary to point out Herrada).
Peter Velits and Polish road champion Michal Kwiatkowski took the time for a photo with me after their shopping excursion.
In between photos, we saw dozens of riders from most of the teams making their way back to the hotel after their rides and then again heading out in pairs to do a little shopping and sightseeing. Frank Parisien stopped to have a good chat with us and I introduced him to my friend and fellow cycling fan, Cameron, before we met up with another one of our cycling fanatic friends for an absolutely fantastic dinner.
What an exciting day…and there wasn't even any racing!