Simon Gerrans wants to be the first rider to sweep the Grand Prix Cycliste events in Quebec City and Montreal.
The Australian got it started with a victory in Quebec City and hopes to match that with a win in the 205-kilometre race in central Montreal today.
"It's achievable," Gerrans said as the teams arrived Saturday from Quebec City by train. "Some guys have come close in the past.
"If I'm there at the end fighting for the win I'll be pretty happy."
It is the third year in operation for the two races, which are the only UCI World Tour events held in North America.
Gerrans, the Orica Greenedge leader with wins this year at the Tour Down Under and Milan San Remo, is up against a number of contenders including Movistar leader Costa, Sky Procy cling ace Edvald Boasson Hagen, Europcar star Thomas Voeckler and Slovak Peter Sagan, winner of three Tour de France stages this year for Liquigas.
And there is Ryder Hesjedal, the Giro d'Italia champion from Victoria who finished third in Montreal in 2010. Hesjedal, who leads the Garmin-Sharp team, faded on the final lap in Quebec City Friday, his first race since the London Olympics.
Both are circuit races, in which riders complete laps of a course through city streets. And they both run up and down hills.
Quebec City's race has several hills with about 3,000 metres of climbing per lap. Montreal has nearly 1,000 metres more climbing, but most of it is in one winding run up Mount Royal.
A team to watch is Spider Tech, the Canadian based squad owned and run by Canada's first international cycling star, Steve Bauer.
They were the only team to place three riders in the top 25 in Quebec City, with Francois Parisien of Montreal the event's top Canadian in 10th place. Ryan Roth of Cambridge, Ont., was 23rd and Guillaume Boivin of Montreal was 25th.
Spider Tech, a Toronto company that makes kinesiology tape to treat sports injuries, inked a three-year sponsorship extension last month and hopes to be the first Canadian team to join the elite World Tour full time as early as next season.
Even Hesjedal, whose team is based in the U.S., can see himself riding for Spider Tech one day.
"You never know what might happen," he said.
