Arriving early to the start/finish line ensured us the best possible spot to go for rider autographs. Unfortunately for Hermano, Cameron, and I, the street was a wide boulevard with a median running down the center that promised to make it difficult to entice the peloton the sign autographs.
In fact the median was only the first obstacle we were to encounter and it wasn't even the worst one. Nope, not by a long shot. A man who worked for the race had obviously been instructed to direct the riders to the start line immediately after that team had finished the team presentation, unbeknownst to me. So when I saw Ryan Roth and cheered for him, he started to make his way over to sign my flag until evil-fan-hating-man put his hands on Roth's shoulders and told him to go the other way. I could see Roth gesturing that fans wanted his autograph but the evil-fan-hating-man insisted. To Roth's credit, he chose to ignore evil-fan-hating-man, dismounted his bike, and came over to sign my brand new Quebec flag. When he picked up the marker, everyone let out a huge roar to let the Canadian rider know how much we all appreciated his effort!
Argos was introduced not long after and as much as I like the Argos team and riders like Degenkolb, I will always be faithful to Frank Parisien, who paid no attention whatsoever to evil-fan-hating-man and simply said to me, “Do you have something for me to sign?” I got a 2-for-1 as he signed both my Quebec and Canadian flags.
Sweet little baby Jesus Herrada posed for a picture with me in the hotel lobby yesterday and today I added his signature to my flag.
Rui Costa signed for me in Quebec, but he was just so happy that I wasn't about to turn down another autograph.
My favorite team took to the stage and a journalist came to the couple next to us, who were also Garmin supporters, and asked which rider they'd most like to meet. Of course they said Ryder Hesjedal and the journalist promised to do his best to get Hesjedal to us. I did cringe a little: Hesjedal definitely knows me and I know that he's a low key guy. I try to respect this about him and not cheer like a maniac for him (but still support him with a more mellow tone) but of course whenever he does come over to sign for me, my neighbors go wild and that's the end of my attempt at respectful mellowness. Blarg. Lucky for me, today Hesjedal didn't seem at all to mind the extra attention (as the star Canadian in the Grand Prix series, he had to expect it) and, after he'd signed for other fans, he autographed my super large Canadian flag as well as my Garmin sign.
I love getting the chance to exchange a few words with Andrew Takansky and today was better than usual because Hermano got to meet him for the first time.
Alongside the young American was a veteran American, Christian Vande Velde, who finally gave me an autograph. Success!
Fabian Wegmann, who had come so close to making the podium in Quebec, signed my flag.
Michael Albasini couldn't be bothered to listen to evil-fan-hating-man, and have me an autograph.
Riders were testing out their legs and taking a peek at the climb that was just around the corner from the start and I caught Jerome Pineau on his way back from checking out the climb.
John Degenkolb had to pull a U turn to be able to sign.
It was time for the race to start, so,the peloton gathered en masse at the start line.
At 11am sharp, the gun sounded and the peloton was off!
Once the pack had passed, the 3 of us booked it through the wooded park and up the hill to watch the race on the slow and steady climb. There were 7 cyclists in the breakaway and I experienced a moment's panic of who to cheer for–I'm a big fan of Argos and RadioShack in particular–but it was no contest. After Canadian road champion Zach Bell had been so good to me in Quebec, I threw my support (and my voice) behind him.
The peloton followed a few minutes later and I picked out Ted King as the Cannondale rider on the far left, so I gave him a cheer and a wave. He recognized me right away and first gestured to his mouth before giving an enthusiastic thumbs up, saying that the maple syrup cookies were excellent!
As the laps around Montreal continued, Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Jerome Pineau did a massive turn at the front, leading the peloton for an incredible 7 of the day's 17 laps.
Gabriel Rasch and Niki Terpstra.
Ryder Hesjedal.
Frank Parisien and Ted King.
With each lap, the peloton thinned out like Andy Schelck's arms (I wish I could take credit for that simile but, alas, I got it from twitter) until there was just one lap to go. We sprinted back down hill to the finish line where a huge crowd had gathered.
The crowd roared when Ryder Hesjedal attacked.
The winner? Perhaps you've heard of him, a Slovakian by the name of Peter Sagan.
The podium. Peter Sagan in first, Simone Ponzi in second, and Ryder Hesjedal in third.
King of the mountains was Jan Bakelandts, of whom I'm a big supporter. I got to congratulate him after his win as he rode back to his hotel to get cleaned up.
We walked to our hotel on cloud 9 after a fantastic day of spectating. TedKing was in the lobby and again thanked us for the cookies. He is definitely the best autograph that I didn't get this weekend! BMC was loading their gear and luggage into the team vehicle and Hermano got a photo with Tejay Vangarderen.
When we sat down in our room to relax after a long day on our feet, we turned on the CTV news and 30 seconds later saw ourselves in the race segment.
Today's 11 autographs came from: #21 Ryder Hesjdal, #26 Andrew Talansky, #27 Christian Vande Velde, #28 Fabian Wegmann, #41 Rui Costa, #44 Jesus Herrada, #64 Jerome Pineau, #121 Michael Albasini, #151 Frank Parisien, #154 John Degenkolb, and #208 Ryan Roth.
