May 17, 2011 (St-Raymond, QC) – This past weekend’s Grand Prix St-Raymond two-stage road race saw a controversial intervention by local police reports the Journal de Québec. That intervention led to race commissaires completely stopping the 73.5km senior men’s race on Saturday for about 15 minutes before restarting in confusion. This “completely changed the dynamic of the race” that was eventually won by Sam Witmitz (Aus) Garneau-Club Chaussures Norton Rose in 2:18:28.

The reason for the intervention was that the peloton was taking up too much width on a road that was still open to car traffic. In 2010, there had been complaints that safety procedures were too lax so presumably the authorities did not want to take chances this year.

Pierrick Naud (Rocky Mountain-Desjardins) was quoted as saying he was part of a breakaway, but that authorities restarted the peloton all together without respecting the time gaps between cyclists. Despite that comment, Naud agreed with the wisdom of stopping the race. Naud ended up in second place in the final sprint with Witmitz who took the win.

Other commentators, such as long-time race organizer Jean-Yves Labonté agreed that the peloton was too wide and thus unsafe. “At a similar race in the U.S.A., they would have sent cyclists back to the hotel,” he noted, adding that rules must be respected. Josée Robitaille the FQSC road and track coordinator, agreed that the intervention was necessary.

Stage 1 results and photos here.
Stage 2 results, GC and photos here.

Journal de Québec article in French here.