Cyclist Antoine Duchesne is hoping to compete in the Quebec and Montréal Grands Prix Cyclistes in two weeks time, despite a hand injury sustained in Wednesday’s race.

After an excellent Tour de France in the service of its leader David Gaudu, the Quebecois returned to action in the 36th Tour Poitou-Charentes from August 23rd to 26th. Unfortunately, a crash during stage 2 cut short his comeback and he was unable to finish the race.

“Unfortunately I slipped in a corner with a lot of sand and broke my hand. I’ve seen worse, I should be able to continue to compete in the two most beautiful races of the year, the Grands Prix de Québec and Montréal,” the athlete wrote briefly.

On a sporting level, his teammate Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ won Stage 4 on Thursday, a 21.4 km time trial between Smarves in Vivonne.

Canadian Michael Woods, 35, also retired on Sunday after a fall during the third stage of the Tour of Spain. He’s trying to recover from a concussion.

Multiple stars

In addition, the organization of the Grands Prix Cyclistes has confirmed some additional names that will be added to the line-up for September 9th and 11th.

Four of the top six overall at the last Tour de France are said to be in Quebec.

Among the 147 runners at the start we mention Tadej Pogacar, Wout Van Aert, Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet, Michael Matthews, Geraint Thomas, Romain Bardet and David Gaudu.

A strong peloton

Other caliber drivers such as Rui Costa, Diego Ulissi, Tim Wellens, Binyam Girmay, Guillaume Martin, Magnus Cort Nielsen, Christophe Laporte and Warren Barguil are also expected in the lands of Quebecer Hugo Houle.

The full preliminary list will be available shortly.

At the start are the 18 UCI WorldTeams, the two invited ProTeams Arkéa-Samsic and TotalEnergies, as well as the Canadian national team.

“I am convinced that the 2022 edition will remain in our memories,” said Sébastien Arsenault, President and CEO of the GPCQM.