The organisers of the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et Montréal are theoretically “ready to have women’s races” alongside the men’s WorldTour events, but still have steps to make regarding the financing and logistics of any additional events.
Montréal hosted a round of the women’s World Cup – a one-day race series that was the precursor to the Women’s WorldTour – between 1998 and 2009, but when the Québec and Montréal WorldTour races were launched in 2010, they were only for the men’s peloton.
Whilst that was perhaps common at the time, it has become increasingly uncommon for a big WorldTour race to only have a men’s event, and questions around a possible addition of women’s races have continued to circle throughout the 15-year history of the men’s event.
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This year, the organisers of the Grands Prix will indeed put together a women’s races for the first time, as the same committee is behind the upcoming Road World Championships in Montréal, and it seems that once the elite women’s peloton has raced on the Montréal circuit, the hopes for a WorldTour race of their own could only intensify.
“On our side, organising WorldTour [events], we are pretty ready to have women’s races during the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et Montréal,” Joseph Limare, general manager of both the races in Québec and Montréal and the World Championships, told Cyclingnews.
Whilst delivering these races on the circuits that already exist may sound easy, there are logistical considerations, not least the fact that the men’s races already run from 11am to after 4pm, but also financial ones.
As well as organising the race, this events spends a lot to host teams and media in Québec and Montréal for a whole week, providing flights, shipping of bikes, meals, vehicles and more.
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“We’ve had a few discussions with the UCI about whether we do it at the same time with the men’s races, are we able to have two races on the circuits to minimise road closures and expense related to this closure, because it’s really expensive. So we’ve had different discussions with the UCI, with the teams, and also we need to finance this event,” Limare explained.
“So now we are having discussions with our public funding at different levels of the government and also with the cities. We are ready to go, but we need to organise the finance part.”
The hope, however, is that the upcoming World Championships – where there will be multiple women’s races – will help hammer home not just that the organisers are capable of hosting bigger events, but also that the appetite for women’s racing, and therefore opportunity for investment, is there.
“Worlds will be a demonstration that we can deliver more than the Grands Prix Cyclistes. The Grands Prix Cyclistes are now part of the biggest races in the world, but yes, I think Worlds will let us have a leverage for the discussion for the women’s [races] in the near future.”
Fan-wise, Limare has no doubts that the audience would be there to support the women’s races, the question is about demonstrating that to those that fund these events.
“For the public it’s a no-brainer, everybody wants women’s races,” he said. “But for the partnerships, we are not in a country with a big culture of cycling, so we need to convince [sponsors] and it’s not really easy, economic wise, here as with everywhere in the world. So we need to convince, we need to show what we can deliver for partnerships, so hopefully the Worlds will be our best carte de visite [business card].”
Whether Women’s WorldTour teams want another big trip and compulsory race added to their calendar is the other crucial question, and indeed the current timing would clash with the important Faun Tour Femmes, but the high level of organisation and substantial financial support has helped these races become popular and logistically possible events for the men’s peloton, so a similar story for the women’s peloton seems feasible.
Whether all the puzzle pieces come together soon or not remains to be seen, but what is clear is that bringing the women’s peloton to Canada is on the radar for the organisers, and maybe after the World Championships it will be on the wish list for the riders too.
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