May 30, 2007 (Saguenay, QC) — The northern Quebec city of Saguenay is likely to bid to host one of the under 23 (U23) men’s road events of the Nations Cup in 2008.

Louis Barbeau, director general of the Fédération québécoise des sports cyclistes (FQSC), told Pedal that this region of Quebec is very active in cycling. The effort is being put together by local cycling event organizer, Roger Filion, with support from the city of Saguenay, some local businesses, the CCA and the FQSC.

Filion has experience organizing The Tour du Saguenay Lac St-Jean from 1988 to 1997, the Road Nationals in 2006, and the Grand Prix Féminin International du Canada. Filion is also the spokesman for the EVA-Devinci team.

“The benefits (to Canada) would be very significant, mainly since the qualification for Worlds (U23) goes through the Nations Cup. Canada should take advantage in trying to host such an event, in order to develop cycling in this category and earn as many points as possible. Nations Cup events are only opened to national teams, but the hosting country is entitled to have two teams. Presently, no part of this series is outside of Europe. As for Quebec, it seems obvious to me that such an event will also be a driving force for the development of road cycling, as are the Tour of Abitibi (junior men), the Tour de Beauce (Elite men) and the Montreal World Cup events (women),” explained Barbeau.

Filion told Pedal that, if this project is approved, it would likely involve three road stages and one day of time trials. The likely dates would be in June, 2008, either before or after the Tour de Beauce. He added that the UCI is looking for an organization outside of Europe to present one leg of the series.

This year, the Nations Cup features six events, including two in France, (among which is the Tour de l’Avenir) Portugal, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland.