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#LEXvsLARAQUE – Albrecht Wins and Laraque Hospitalized + PHOTOS

by John Symon

November 16, 2014 (Montreal, QC) – This morning’s #LEXvsLARAQUE duel up Mount Royal was easily won by pro cyclist Lex Albrecht, recently signed with Optum p/b KBS, who handily defeated former Montreal Canadien hockey player Georges Laraque while light snow was falling.

Laraque and Albrecht at the start  ©  John Symon

The former hockey pro was apparently on his first ever ride up Mount Royal, did not appear to know how to pace himself and ended the race hunched over. Laraque was eventually taken by ambulance to the Montreal General Hospital for observation, but is OK.

Laraque (l) hunched over at the finish  ©  John Symon

“At the hospital with the champ @Lex_Albrecht , she literally killed me, I’m ok now, just had my ego shattered!” tweeted Laraque from the hospital around 11 AM. This was followed by: “Ok @Lex_Albrecht won fair and square, next week though, new challenge and more fair, a mile on flat at Gilles Villeneuve race track!”

Laraque taken to hospital in stretcher  ©  John Symon

The race was a study in contrasts, pitting the 5’2”, 53kg (117lb) Albrecht against the 6’4”, 110kg (242lb)) Laraque. Albrecht was not even out of breath when she arrived at the finish line near the 233m (764 ft) summit only five minutes after the start… she then went back down the hill again to ride up with Laraque.

Fan poses with Albrecht  ©  John Symon

Many long minutes elapsed before the two of them came into view with Albrecht literally riding circles around her rival. The former hockey player seemed very glad to reach the finish and remained hunched over for many minutes. This Pedal reporter invited Laraque in his car until an ambulance arrived.

“George is being a pretty good sport about this,” said Albrecht at the finish. “He could have dropped out after those first 100m. But I never said that I could beat him in hockey…”

Laraque and Lex at the hospital...ready for the next challenge  ©

One of Laraque’s friends said that the former hockey player often finishes races like this because he has a habit of pushing himself too hard. Laraque runs marathons and half-marathons, but spends little time on a bike his friend added.

An estimated 200 people turned out to watch the race, despite the early hour on a cold, wet Sunday morning. Stay tuned for the next #LEXvsLARAQUE challenge.





1 Comments For This Post

  1. ktrueman, QC, Canada says:

    I am the “fan” in the pink bunny suit. There is actually a story behind it.

    After watching Georges challenge Lex on Twitter, I mentioned that it would be good for him to understand the power-to-weight ratio so well know to cyclists.

    I pointed out that not only did Georges not stand a chance but that I could also beat him, even while carrying an extra 20lbs of sugar on my back AND a pink bunny suit. Since I did not have 20lbs of sugar, I had a knapsack with a 12lb Kurt Kinetic Pro trainer flywheel, a 4lb bag of quinoa and a 5lb leg weight. I wore the knapsack under my rabbit suit.

    The original plan was for me to race Georges separately, but I ended up racing him the first time, leaving after him and Lex and then gapping up, riding alongside for a minute or two, and then pedalling away to finish 2nd by a good 3 minutes or more.

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