The Tour de Beauce is a long-standing mainstay of North American stage racing, and 2009 marked the 24th year for this event. The 6 day, 7 stage race attracts an international field with its UCI 2.2 ranking. Winners from prior editions of the classic race include some well-known riders, including Tour de France contender Levi Leipheimer and Garmin-Slipstream team manager Jonathan Vaughters. This year, the young riders from Trek Livestrong tested their mettle against the challenging course south of Quebec City. Team member Ryan Bauman shared his power files and race notes from each stage to give us some insight on the demands of the race.
Stage 1 - Hard day in steep hills. 170km. Crosswinds and on the rivet all day long. Rode in a groupetto for last 50km. Legs not good today!
Stage 2 - Hard start to stage going in breakaways and up the climbs. BMC controlled the race after 50km when the breakaway was let go, and we had a much easier ride until the final 10km of finishing circuits. Finished mid pack in a bunch sprint.
Stage 3 - Hard day. 160km with a mountain top finish on Mt Megantic, a very steep 6km climb. Today I helped cover the many breakaways on the day and helped position my GC teammates leading into the final climb. After that I rode in as easy as possible up the final climb.
Stage 4 TT - 20km TT in the rain. I made sure to take it really easy in the corners but also felt pretty sore so kept it easy in the mid-170's heart rate zone to save my legs for the rest of the race.
Stage 4 Criterium - A tough short crit with a steep hill each lap. 60km and 1.5 hours of racing made the legs feel sore on our easy day today. Rode the Cervo, so no power data.
Stage 5 - A tough circuit race in Quebec city, 14km long with a 2km steep climb each lap up to the finish. Felt better today and made the lead group selection many times up the climb. 4 minutes at 490-500 watts today up the climb maximum.
Stage 6 - An even more difficult circuit race in St George. 12 laps of a tight 11km circuit with another tough 1.5km climb to the finish. The Columbian team took an unusual approach to the race and attacked relentlessly from the start. On one lap I had to bridge to the lead group on the climb, and it was very hard: 520 watts for over 3 minutes. After an extremely hard 6 laps trying to help our team leader Bjorn Selander, I was dropped and rode in with a groupetto with 3 others. So many riders dropped out today I moved up from 89th on GC to 36th place today. Only 37 riders finished the race!
