It’s hard to believe this documentary was shot 50 years ago because the video quality is amazing, the soundtrack timeless and the creative use of camera angles are still being used today.

This short documentary follows the 11th The Tour du St-Laurent long-distance bicycle race held in Quebec (New France) in the summer of 1965. There, riders from 13 countries and three continents covered 2400 km of Gaspé countryside in 12 days, a course longer than those of Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland or Spain. The only race at the time that was longer was The Tour de France.

The race was a stage amateur road race and was held 12 times in Québec between 1954 and 1965. The race varied in distance but grew in length each year. The route roughly followed the St-Laurence river (north and south shore) from Québec City to Montréal and back.

The man behind the race was Yvon Guillou, a Frenchman from Brittany (born 1927) who emigrated to Canada in 1951. Gullou was a keen cyclist who won the Québec-Montréal classic race in 1952. Despite being the founder of the event Guillou mangaged to participate in the first four editions of the race but as the race grew in size he could no longer do both.

60 Cycles – Directed by Jean-Claude Labrecque (1965 / 16 min)

