May 31, 2010 (Beauce, QC) – The Tour de Beauce, the number one men’s international stage cycling event in Canada, is proud to welcome back its loyal partners Hydro Québec, Desjardins, Le Georgesville and Groupe Procycle, under its Rocky Mountain brand, as major sponsors of the 25th Edition.

Adding to these major partners is the invaluable support of the Canadian and Quebec governments through their associated ministries. The event will be able to count on contributions from the provincial Bureau de la Capitale Nationale and the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports at the provincial level as well as the Canada Economic Development and Sports Canada federal agencies.

With their services, several official and local sponsors such as Thule, Iclic, Champion System, Pepsi Alex Coulombe, Image de Mark, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, IGA Rodrigue et filles, St-Georges Toyota and Rogers will allow us to present a high-quality event.

We also recognize the essential contribution of our media partners who widely promote the event: the stations of Québec 800 and Radio-Beauce Cool FM 103.5 and Mix 99.7, the Le Soleil newspaper, as well as the publicity poster networks Look and Zoom Média.

In addition, it is important to emphasize the excellent cooperation of several municipal and provincial organizations, in particular the host cities of Saint-Georges, Quebec City, Thetford Mines and Lac-Etchemin as well as Mont Mégantic National Park. To these public organization is added the CLD Beauce-Sartigan who is a major contributor to the success of the Tour.

The organization would equally like to acknowledge the cooperation of all the towns passed through, the Sûreté du Québec, the municipal police forces of Saint-Georges, Thetford Mines and Quebec City and, in particular, the Quebec Minister of Transportation, who allow the creation of international calibre routes.

Lastly, we would like to thank the numerous companies in the area who play a role by participating as Friends of the Tour de Beauce, and to all the volunteers who work so that the event runs smoothly.

Beauce Welcomes 18 teams – 130 riders
The 25th Tour de Beauce is planning to welcome 18 teams, made up of more than 130 riders, to the starting line this coming June 15. The organizers are more than satisfied with the teams selected as much by their number as by their quality, and anticipate that the calibre will be a notch higher than last year, while presenting a consistently strong pack made up of several teams able to win the race.

Canada is once again well-represented with 5 teams including 1 UCI Continental team. Planet Energy, under the leadership of Steve Bauer will have, as captain, the Quebecois François Parisien as well as several talented cyclists. The Quebec Team and Canada National selection will also be to watch with a selection of some of the best Canadians. Completing the Canadian delegation will be Garneau-Club Chaussures and Spirit – CIBC Wood Gundy.

The United States will be represented by a strong delegation : Team Type 1, with Valery Kobzarenko, the 2006 winner of the Tour de Beauce, United Health, Bahati Fundation with Nathan O-Neil 2005 overall winner, the Pro-Continental BMC team, and the Continental Development team Holowesko Partners/Felt, Garmin U23.

Among the foreign teams are the returning Amore Vita team and Fly V Australia. Add to them the Continental teams Heraklio – Murcia with Francesco Mancebo, CKT – Champion System with Jaan Kirsipuu, two Holland selection Global Cycling and Restore Cycling, as well as DCM, from South Africa and SCW from Germany.

Beauce Courses
Organizers of the Tour de Beauce return this year with a tested formula for some routes, as several of last year’s layouts will be revisited by the cyclists. Nevertheless, riders will find a few modifications along the way, notably with a new downtown circuit in Quebec City.

The debut of the 25th Tour will take place on a proven route for the Lac-Etchemin / Lac-Etchemin stage, a 165-km warm up, which takes place north in the region of Bellechasse.

On Wednesday, June 16, the Thetford Mines / Thetford Mines stage, redrawn this year by the organizers, should again give the riders quite a challenge in the first half of this 160-kiometre stage that highlights the lakes and mountains of the towns surrounding Thetford Mines.

Next, the competitors will have to face the monster climb of Mont Megantic during the 3rd stage on Thursday, June 11. Starting in St-Georges and culminating at an observatory perched on top of the highest paved road in Quebec, the route has been slightly tamed this year with a few modifications. It’s likely that the first to reach the top of Mont Megantic will also be leading the overall standings at the close of the 2010 Tour de Beauce!

This year, changes have also been made to the Friday schedule. There will be 20-km individual time trial in St-Rene on a brand new route. The Criterium, which had been usually held Friday evening, will not be run this year.

The weekend fare will have Quebec City welcoming the next-to-last stage, starting at noon on Saturday, June 19, near the Parc de la Francophonie, on Grande-Allée. A 12-km downtown loop, covered 11 times, will lead the cyclists down the Gilmore hill and along the river before attacking the “Côte de la Montagne” Street.

After giving quite a show to the Quebec City crowds, the competitors will wind up the 25th Tour by pedaling their last to the applause of the Beauce fans during the traditional 12-km circuit in downtown Saint-Georges. It will be at the end of the 12th lap that the winner will be crowned.