June 21, 2007 (Montreal, QC) — A lack of registrations has forced organizers to cancel all of the women’s races at this year’s Coupe de la Paix (CdlP) according to Louise Lalonde, the CdlP’s Technical Director. Lalonde even doubts whether there will be a women’s race in 2008.

None of this affects the men’s races, with three more stages scheduled between today (June 21) and Monday (June 25). Today’s 50km men’s race began at 7:10 p.m. in Mascouche and was won by Charles Dionne (Colavita/Sutter Home). Sunday’s 60km men’s race begins at 11:30 a.m. in Montreal North; and the final race on June 25 is a 62.7km men’s event that begins at 10:30 a.m. in Blainville. All of these locations are around the Montreal metropolitan area.

“This is really a sad story. La Coupe de la Paix had to cancel the women’s races for the week. On Monday morning (June 18) we had no women’s registrations. By Wednesday (June 20 the date of round #1) at noon we had six registrations with no riders from outside Quebec. Then we phoned all of the Quebec clubs but they had no riders ready to participate beside the six girls already registered,” explained Lalonde.

“At 3 pm yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon we decided to cancel the race; we have a responsibility towards the city and tax payers not to close the roads unnecessarily. We want to maintain solid collaboration with the police, the city, and the municipalities regarding cycling events so we had to make a decision as soon as possible. We phoned the six women and told them it was cancelled. In the end, one woman showed up – a rider who was supposed to go to Nature Valley Grand Prix (June 20-24 in Minnesota) who decided at the last minute to race in Laval,” continued Lalonde

“Last year we offered $20,000 for the women – only 18 showed up. This year we were offering $15,000 and six registered. We will have to rethink the women’s race for la Coupe de la Paix in the future.”

Louis Barbeau, director general of the Quebec cycling federation (FQSC), added that he wasn’t sure what the reason was for the low number of registrations. “Maybe it’s a lack of publicity, maybe the riders are tired after doing the recent Tour de PEI. It eould also be competition from U.S. events like the Nature Valley GP, but I don’t want to blame the athletes. I’ve been pushing for this event including a women’s race despite the low numbers in 2006. It’s sad that we had to cancel. We’ve had other races where 30 or more woman riders from Quebec showed up. But it’s hard to justify putting together an event (like Coupe de la Paix) for a (handful) of registrations. I have to admit that it’s easier to organize a men’s race. We’re still hopeful that one women’s event might still be run on June 24 or 25.”

Coupe de la Paix organizers explained that invitations went out to 91 teams across Quebec, Canada and the USA. There was some hope that last minute registrations would boost the numbers as with the men. While only 37 men were pre-registered for the races, another 39 registered on race day, June 20, boosting the field to a total of 76 cyclists.

Lalonde says that she has been speaking to elite women riders and many of them say they are too tired after three major events (Montreal World Cup, Tour du Grand Montreal, and Tour de PEI) lately.

“When we asked for the sanction in October, we didn’t know that there would be a conflict with Nature Valley. I realize that some of the top girls must race there,” added Lalonde.

Earlier this month, organizers of Oregon’s Cascade Cycling Classic cancelled the 2007 women’s stage race due to a calendar conflict with the USA Cycling Elite National Championships in Pennsylvania. There is no clear indication that a similar situation occurred here with competition from the Nature Valley Grand Prix. There are nine Canadian women competing there.

The 2006 CdlP women’s series was won by Merrill Collins (La Bicicletta) with Gina Grain (Teamexpresscopy.com) in 2nd and Anne Samplonius (Teamexpresscopy.com) 3rd.