{"id":899550,"date":"2026-09-17T19:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/899550\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T19:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:48:15","slug":"will-canadians-truly-get-a-home-roads-advantage-in-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/899550\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Canadians truly get a home-roads advantage in Montreal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian riders ranging from juniors to elites have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this September. They will race for rainbow stripes with fans, fellow Canadians, cheering for them at the sides of the roads in Montreal. The scenario will resemble the home-ice advantage that hockey players experience. But public roads are quite different from a closed arena. The energy with the Bell Centre is different than that on the climb up Camillien-Houde. Can Canuck riders\u2014from those quoted below to defending world champ Magdeleine Valli\u00e8res Mill<\/a> and Tour de l\u2019Abitibi Femmes winner \u00c9lodie Malois<\/a>\u2014truly get a performance boost even when they look down at their head units and see the power numbers that show they are at their limits?<\/p>\n

In a sense, writer Matt Fitzgerald wrote about home-ice advantage in is book How Bad Do you Want It? Actually, he wrote about how the Tour de France\u2019s yellow jersey seems to confer wings onto its wearer. Fitzgerald looks at Thomas Voeckler\u2019s stunning ride during Stage 13 of 2004 Tour de France where, against all odds, he retained his yellow jersey. \u201cThe yellow jersey puts its wear under a spotlight that intensifies both the sting of failure and the glory of success and thereby \u2018raises the bar\u2019 that the Tour leader aims for on his bike. Psychologists have a name for this phenomenon: the audience effect,\u201d Fitzgerald writes. \u201cIn essence, the audience effect coaxes people into holding themselves to higher standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the latest episode of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast, I asked four riders\u2014Derek Gee-West, Pier-Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9, Nickolas Zukowsky and Michael Leonard\u2014about the audience effect. Of course, I phrased it as home-ice advantage. Below, after the jump, are their condensed replies. For the full interviews, conducted just before the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec, download the episode or watch the YouTube video.<\/p>\n

SUBSCRIBE Apple Podcasts<\/a> | Spotify<\/a> | Pocket Casts<\/a> | YouTube<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | Simplecast<\/a> | RSS<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Derek Gee-West on a home-roads advantage in Montreal<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna be honest, if you\u2019re going up Mont-Royal and you\u2019re doing 8 W\/kg and you have lactate up to your eyeballs, I don\u2019t know that [a home-roads advantage] is going to be such a psychological difference. But that being said, I\u2019ve never experienced anything like home worlds. I\u2019ve been at the biggest bike races in the world. I\u2019ve done the Tour. I\u2019ve seen the crowds by the side of the road. But for all those fans to be Canadian, that\u2019s something that is going to be pretty special. And maybe it will give us a little boost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update: Derek Gee-West won\u2019t race the TT or mixed relay, but is still holding out for the elite men\u2019s road race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Derek<\/a>Derek Gee-West. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn
\nPier-Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9 on riding in his home province<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you can\u2019t outperform your legs. You have a physiological limit, but you can certainly battle them a little bit more if you\u2019ve got that fight in you. I think you definitely make sure you will have that fight. For me, for example, Montreal\u2019s going to feel like home, especially for worlds, but this race here in Quebec, [the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec,] there\u2019s a 110 per cent chance that I\u2019ll be going to my absolute limit because I\u2019ve got the crowd on my side. I mean, maybe you can\u2019t tell because I\u2019m suffering and I\u2019m focused on the job that I have to do, but I do hear everyone on the course and I really do feel like I have some home-crowd advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four races and a wedding\u2014and then Pier-Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9\u2019s season continues<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Pier-Andr\u00e9<\/a>Pier-Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9, 2026. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn
\nNickolas Zukowsky experienced a boost in the breakaway at the 2019 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al<\/p>\n

\u201cThe few races I\u2019ve done at home have always gone quite well. I think for sure there is something in it. A big part of sports in general is like the mental aspect behind it. We\u2019re all physically fit, we all do our homework and train well, but the mental aspect is huge. That mental boost that you get from being at home, having family and friends who never get to see what you do year round, cheering\u2014I really do think it gives you something extra. I\u2019m hoping that come race time that it makes us all a bit stronger, and then we can pull out a big performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nickolas<\/a>Nickolas Zukowsky, 2026. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn
\nMichael Leonard: You don\u2019t get wings, but\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does and it doesn\u2019t. I think it lets you access more of your potential, but equally it doesn\u2019t defy the laws of physics. I think it makes it more likely that on a day you\u2019re going to give your best performance. You\u2019re going to have a bit more confidence, a bit more desire to put yourself in certain situations, to race more aggressively, to make more things happen in the race, but equally it\u2019s not going to give you wings and so you have to be realistic about what\u2019s possible. I think the fans [at the Montreal GPs] are quite spectacular. I think for the worlds, it might be even bigger. In general, it\u2019s super motivating and inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>Michael Leonard, 2026. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian riders ranging from juniors to elites have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this September. They will race for rainbow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82,11588],"class_list":["post-899550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}