The Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal 2025 once again delivered a spectacular showcase of WorldTour racing in the heart of Quebec. Just two days after Julian Alaphilippe’s win in Quebec City, cycling fans packed Mont-Royal Park to watch Tadej Pogačar and Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates dominate on Montreal’s famously brutal circuit. Alongside the racing action, French performance brand Van Rysel unveiled its ambitious plans for the Canadian market, offering fans a first look at its pro-level bikes that will soon be available across the country.
With an invitation coming from cycling brand Van Rysel to attend the 16th edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, I took the two hour train ride from Ottawa to see the last World Tour race of the season. Two days earlier Tudor Pro Cycling’s Julian Alaphillipe had triumphed in Quebec City and now the circus had moved to Montreal. Canada hosts the only two UCI World Tour races in North America and here was an opportunity to both see the best riders in the world in action in an urban setting but also to learn about Van Rysel’s ambitious plans for the future.
The Montreal course is similar to its Quebec counterpart in being run entirely inside of a city but the Montreal course is seriously challenging. Quebec City features over its 18 laps a total length of 216 kms and 2,600 meters of climbing by the time the riders finish on the Plains of Abraham. Montreal, on the other hand, is run over 17 laps totalling 209 kms but with a leg-busting gain of 4,573 m. Most of the race is centred around the Mont-Royal park, with three featured climbs, with the first one being a difficult ramp to the summit of Camilien-Houde, followed by lesser climbs near the Polytechnique and Pagnuelo, with a descent to the start-finish line on Avenue du Parc.
The course is really well considered as road closures are kept to a minimum (although traffic even in Montreal on Sunday is pretty light) and spectators can find places to watch all the way around. I was given the opportunity to be driven around the course during the race and even in our big Lincoln SUV I could see that the first climb would be hard to ride up once, let alone an additional sixteen times! There were thousands of spectators at the barriers and with the riders going slowly up the climbs and on the outward leg of Avenue du Parc the viewing was excellent.
Van Rysel’s Perrine traveled from France to host us on race day.
With the province of Quebec being a hotbed of cycling, provision was made for cyclists as well as spectators on foot as there was a place to check your bike and a Fan Village with plenty of exhibitors promoting their wares, whether nutrition products, jerseys or racing wheels. Interestingly, the only bicycle manufacturer with a presence in the Fan Village in spite of all the enthusiast was Van Rysel, but as we shall see this fits in with their plans for Canada.
The race was viewable everywhere, either close up as the riders tore by the barriers or else on big screens located all around the course. There was an announcer giving a first rate blow-by-blow account via loudspeakers on the avenue of what was happening. After an initial breakaway group of eight riders, a larger group was formed while the peloton kept a steady pace but then UAE Team Emirates-XRG began to turn the screws and controlled the race totally.
UAE’s Brandon McNulty eventually attacked clear before being joined by his teammate Tadej Pogačar and Lidl-Trek’s Quinn Simmons. After Pogi launched his usual blistering jump it looked like it would be another long solo for him. But McNulty was able to drop Simmons and join up with Pogačar, the defending champion, who then towed his American domestique all the way to the finish line. With taking a second place finish in Quebec City and first and second in Montreal, UAE Team Emirates-XRG had a pretty good long weekend. Pogačar, who was wearing his 2025 Rainbow Jersey for the last race, will be bringing great form to the World Road Race Championships in Rwanda.
Julian Alaphillippe was too fast for our camera after his win two days prior in Quebec City.
Van Rysel was the only bike manufacturer present at the Fan Village, showing a range of bicycles, but they weren’t taking any money there as this was a part of their upcoming rollout in the Canadian market. Van Rysel is a brand owned by Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting goods retailer. The company, which is remarkable in being family-controlled, began in 1976 and today has 1,800 stores in 79 countries, with over 100,000 employees and revenues of over US$18 billion annually. Selling primarily through its big-box stores, Decathlon aims to provide value for its consumers with the goal of making sporting goods accessible, a formula whose success speaks for itself.
Decathlon is headquartered in Lille, France, the major centre of French Flanders, and the city was known as Rysel in Flemish, hence the use of “Van Rysel,” or “From Lille”, as the name chosen to launch the brand in 2019. The company’s impressive corporate campus is only 18 kms away from the famous Roubaix velodrome and Van Rysel wants to emphasize this connection with one of cycling’s iconic locations while at the same time offering bicycles that are state-of-the-art.
Previously a bike sponsor using different brand names in the past, Decathlon stepped up in November 2023, becoming a co-sponsor the the AG2R-Citröen World Tour team (to be called Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and supplier of Van Rysel racing bicycles for the next season. In 2024 the team saw its number of victories climb from a mere 9 the year before to 30. Could this be attributed to the new bikes…or perhaps to the inflow of Decathlon money to raise the standards of the team? In 2025 Decathlon took over ownership of the team. In addition, Decathlon has, since 2023, been title sponsor, along with the city of Roubaix, of a Continental-level pro racing team, Van Rysel Roubaix.
Van Rysel team bikes at training camp in Spain – Spring 2025
The line of Van Rysel RCR bicycles that saw such success in the 2024 pro season are the result of partnerships that the brand has built with suppliers such as Fizik, Deda, Zipp, SRAM and Shimano, as well as Swiss Side, experts in cycling wheel aerodynamics. Another partner is CNES (Centre national d’études spatiales), the French national space agency, and the company undertakes comprehensive wind tunnel testing of its bikes. Apparently the new aero bike from Van Rysel, the RCR-F, boasts the lowest drag of any bikes used in the World Tour.
Pez got a sneak preview of the Van Rysel bike sat Sea Otter ’25.
Van Rysel is the name that will be applied to all of Decathlon’s road bike offerings, which will not only include the World Tour bikes but a full range for beginners to pros, along with accessories from helmets down to shoes and indoor smart trainers. When the RCR Pro was made available for consumers it sold out within hours, no surprise given that prices were considerably lower than equivalent World Tour bikes from other better-known brands.
The bikes on display at the Van Rysel stand in Montreal were beautifully finished and attracted considerable attention, especially the limited-edition Inferno and Roubaix paint schemes, the latter in a pink and black marble look inspired by Roubaix’s cobbles and the colours of the Van Rysel Roubaix team. On show in Montreal were examples of the RCR Pro, the RCR-F aero bike, the Model X gravel bike and the upcoming bikepacking/ultra event EDR. These are the same bikes that are going to be sold in Canada from February 2026, although a few will be arriving in December this year. Van Rysel’s plan is to offer the bicycles through some selected retailers with experience in selling high-end products as the current range are priced from C$4,999 to C$13,699. Retailers have been signed up in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and BC.
Van Rysel’s goal is to become one of the five biggest names in bikes and backed by Decathlon’s deep pockets, investing in pro racing and high tech, results in that direction are already apparent after only five years. The energetic team at Van Rysel radiates great enthusiasm and we will surely hear more from this innovative brand.
• See the Van Rysel website here
Disclaimer: Van Rysel covered the cost of my economy return train ticket from Ottawa to Montreal and also fed me very well at their VIP stand.
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