My old buddy Dave Franey used to always preface the many favors he asked me with ‘Help a fellow Canadian down on his luck?’. This is sort of how I felt yesterday morning when messaging Antoine Duchesne for an interview – and thankfully he’s a kind Canuck, and he accepted graciously, ‘after my massage’. And so it came to pass that The Vicious Cycle Blog had its first pro cyclist interview…after his massage.

Antoine Duchesne is a 24 year old in his 5th year as a pro. He started in Canada, of course, riding for teams run by Steve Bauer, Louis Garneau and Axel Merckx (a transplanted Canadian) and has been with Direct Energie (formally Europcar) since 2014. He is a big guy for a cyclist (190 cm – 75 kg) and although I never asked him, I imagine he’d consider himself a Classics specialist. 

Below is the result of a…