In researching for our trip to Vancouver I discovered that there was a bike race there each July, but never quite got around to finding out when exactly it was held and really forgot all about it. When I arrived I was leafing through some of the tourist brochures that Joanne received from the conference she was attending and realized that the Tour de Gastown was happening that night just a few miles from where I was... with very little prodding Joanne agreed to make the bike race our first exploration into Vancouver.
The race is held on a fast 1.2km course in the historic waterfront neighborhood of Gastown on the edge of downtown Vancouver. The women's race was well under way when we arrived, but we probably caught half of the 30 laps. We watched from the hairpin corner at Cordova and Water Streets.
Between races Joanne and I wandered around the course looking for a new vantage point to watch the 50 lap men's race from - eventually we settled on a spot along Cordova from which we could watch them come out of the hairpin and accelerate towards us. This made for a fun place to watch, but meant they were moving too fast to get many good photos. After a very back and forth struggle between several leaders the winner was local rider Gina Grain in a bunch sprint - who I believe is also on the Canadian Olympic team.
Astana's Chris Horner was the big name in the race and for a while it seemed like either he was tearing the rest apart with a blistering pace or they were waiting to see what he would do... after leading for most all of the race a few riders made long attacks of a lap or more - eventually one of these succeeded and Andrew Pinfold took the win.
A few more pics on my flickr site HEREAnd in the form of a slide show HERE
Posts
