Getting up close and personal with a cycling team isn’t always easily achieved, but this was far from true on Wednesday night in Québec City when the riders from Team RadioShack appeared for a meet and greet put on by Sport Olympe.  Pierre Laferriere and his lovely wife Caroline Boisclair are important Trek dealers in this area and hosted a private event for a select number of their preferred customers.  Promptly at 6:45 a limo arrived at the Team hotel to take us to the nearby eleganly stylish hotel and restaurant Auberge St-Antoine.  The ultra-modern setting provided a stunning background for the special event.

Standing in front of a packed house of a lucky 150 fans and customers, Pierre introduced the riders one-by-one to the appreciative crowd.  A funny aside was that both Popo and Markel handed me their cameras to hold so, as Markel said, “the people won’t mistake me for some tourist!”  No chance that was going to happen as Pierre gave a brief description of each rider’s accomplishments, including Team Director Ekimov, and each one received a boisterous round of applause. 

Sport Olympe owner Pierre and Markel

While the Team stood up front a few questions were put to Eki, namely about the Team’s impressions of Québec City and the course.  Each rider was presented with a gift of a book on Québec and a bottle of maple syrup (of course!). Next up was what the crowd was most anxious for – time to meet their favorites, get an autograph and snap a photo.  Each rider had his own table where fans could step up to shake hands and get a signature and photo.  The casual atmosphere was perfect for both the customers and the Team and the hour allotted for signing flew by.

Popo meets a fan

All in all it was a tremendously successful and fun event for the team before they get down to seriously business on Friday.  The boys trained for two hours on Thursday under cloudy but dry skies and are ready to tackle the technically challenge course that awaits them.  Good luck, guys!

Another aside: for dog lovers everywhere, there is a resident dog at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and he wears Team RadioShack colors!  ‘Santol’ is a beautiful seven year-old St-Pierre breed that has been specially trained to enhance his naturally friendly nature.  He wanders freely in the lobby of the hotel and quite frankly, has an incredible life at the hotel. 

'Santol' is happy to meet the guests at the hotel

Santol's "dog house"