With two runners less, the Quebec team led by Pascal Choquette showed all the depth of its team, while the representatives of the fleur-de-lis jersey completed the seventh stage in third place in the team standings, finishing just behind Canada and United States. It was ultimately the Canadian team’s color bearer Matthew Ney who was crowned as the new champion of the 53e edition of the Tour de l’Abitibi.
By his own admission, the coach of the Quebec team Pascal Choquette said he was rather satisfied with the work accomplished by his people. Although the runners made mistakes at times, he believes that this participation in the 53e Tour de l’Abitibi will have allowed his foals to gain experience.
“It is disappointing to have lost Julien [Boulé] and Henrique [Martins] during the first step. Our athletes had some good shots and others not so good during the week, but the important thing is to learn from them. If our athletes have learned during this project, it is the objective to have a race of this kind in Quebec. They can now adjust their work if they want to perform at the international level,” indicated Pascal Choquette a few minutes after the seventh stage.
In his second year as a junior, Justin Roy obtained the best runner among the runners of the Quebec team with a 13e place in the general classification, while his teammates Filipe Duarte and Elyot Ferguson completed the seventh and final stage with the 16e and 17e places for the brown jersey. Due to a fall during the first lap, which made him lose several minutes on the peloton, Gabriel Séguin completed the cycling lap in 65e place. His effort contributed to Team Quebec’s third place finish.
Quebecers who shone during the 53e Abitibi cycling tour
In addition to the riders of the Quebec team, several affiliated members within the FQSC distinguished themselves during this 2023 edition of the Abitibi Cycling Tour. In his second year as a junior, Alexis Bouchard (Team Canada) stood out on the Abitibi climbs to finally get his hands on the best climber’s polka dot jersey of the event. With a collection of 17 points, he finished ahead of Nathan Cusack (United States). In addition to his polka dot jersey, the rider from Quebec took eighth place in the cumulative ranking after seven stages.
He is not the only Quebecer playing for the national team to have had success this week, as his teammate Jonathan Hinse turned out to be one of the revelations of the 53e Abitibi tower. Holder of the orange jersey and blue jersey with two stages to go, the athlete from Vaudreuil-Dorion performed well in the intermediate sprints as well as in the mass sprints on the various stages, finishing in second place for the orange jersey. The American Alejandro Che took advantage of the last stage to seize the orange jersey, he who had stolen the blue jersey on Saturday from Jonathan Hinse. At the end of the seven stages, Jonathan Hinse completed his first participation in the Abitibi event in fifth place overall in addition to having climbed on the podium three times during the stay.
Among the other riders who showed great things during the week, Carl Truffer wore the blue jersey by proxy during the fourth and fifth stages. With a sixth place for the blue jersey awarded to the best first-year junior rider, he completed the seven stages at the 12e rank of the cumulative ranking.
Rider of the ZVP-Opto Réseau team, Adamo Giammarella has shown a lot of consistency in the different events presented this week. Excellent in the individual time trial with a 10e place, he gave himself a chance to complete the Tour in ninth place for the brown jersey. Giammarella’s team-mate, Maxime Corbeil also did well with a 15e place in the general classification. These two men are part of the reasons that explain the success of the ZVP-Opto Réseau training. The team led by Gilles Besner completed the event in fourth place in the team standings, ahead of France and Japan.