October 3, 2006 (Montreal, QC) – As reported previously by Pedal, 2007 will see the first Montreal-Boston Tour. UCI President, Pat McQuaid recently announced in Salzburg during the 2006 Road Worlds that the Montreal-Boston Tour had received a 2.1 license. Tour organizer, Daniel Manibal, freshly returned from Salzburg granted his first post-announcement interview recently on the subject to Pedal Magazine.

“A bike race is in the public domain and uses public roads, so organizing this race was not as easy as organizing a hockey game where you just rent an arena. But the support from various levels of government in Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts has been tremendous,” said Manibal. He made special mention of Quebec’s Minister of Education, Leisure and Sports, Jean-Marc Fournier, who went to Salzburg with Manibal. “Without him, we wouldn’t have pulled this off,” stated Manibal.

Manibal said that many details about the upcoming tour will be revealed at a press conference in late October and that he couldn’t reveal much in advance. “It’s one of these things where everyone needs their time in the spotlight and they put money into the project.”

“I’ve been working on this, together with some other cycling projects, for two-and-a-half years. Officially, I’m retired now, but I’ve never been so busy in my life,” said Manibal. He was initially discrete about his age, suggesting that he didn’t want to deter any possible female attention, but admitted to being born in 1951. A former master racer, Manibal lamented that he doesn’t get to sit in a saddle much these days. “Once you work in cycling, you don’t ride much anymore…”

Manibal laughed adding, “people think I’m a millionaire in this business, but I’ve lost money on some of the events. I only do this because I am passionate about cycling. And I’m glad that cycling is becoming a more popular sport.”

Other events organized by Manibal include the Montreal Women’s Road World Cup and the Tour du Grand Montréal.

A 2.1 license means that ProTour and national level teams can compete. The event is slated for August 4-11, 2007 and the exact race route has not been revealed, but the distance from Montreal to Boston is about 400 kilometers, passing through the Appalachian Mountains.