Cyclists from around the world join UCI Paris to Ancaster challenge

The annual Paris to Ancaster bike race took place, drawing 2,500 participants not only from North America but from around the world. In recent years, the challenging course forced riders to navigate through mud, but this year, the weather cooperated

The race has run since 1994 and signifies the start of spring for the local cycling community.

“This is one of the great bicycle races in all of North America,” said announcer Steve Fleck of Aurora. “It’s had over 2,000 riders, upwards of 3,000 riders a few years ago. The super cool thing is it’s a race and a ride for everyone – anyone can do this. We’ve had some of the best cyclists in Canada on the start line and we’ve had people who have been training all winter in their basement just to be here.

“It really challenges riders,” Fleck continued. “The terrain, you have to deal with mud, you’ve got to deal with ruts, hills, and gravel.”

Ben Perry of St. Catharines, and took the top honours at the Paris to Ancaster race part of the UCI Gravel World Series, under sunny skies on Sunday. Yehor Volkov and Theo De Groote rounded out the men’s podium.

Perry an avid MTB cyclist, said he last did the race in 2011. He's off to Spain to race the Traka 360 next weekend along with a lot of other top international gravel privateers.