Everything you need to know about the Victoria Grand Prix this weekend

A previous Victoria Grand Prix is pictured. (Image credit: Victoria Grand Prix/Facebook)

On Sunday, hundreds of cyclists and thousands of spectators will spill into the streets for the Victoria Grand Prix bike race.

This year’s event is a continuation of over 30 years of bicycle racing in the city, according to organizers.

To make room for the race, the roads surrounding the B.C. legislature will be closed from early Sunday morning until around 6 p.m.

Belleville, Menzies, Government and Superior streets will be blocked off, and drivers are encouraged to take alternative routes around the event. Buses will use a detour.

The event, formally called the Agency Cycling Festival, celebrates “bicycles in sports, arts and culture,” according to the City of Victoria.

The star of the show is undoubtedly the Grand Prix itself, wherein elite cyclists from across B.C. will race multiple laps at high speeds around a one-kilometre circuit that starts and ends at the legislature.  There will be nine races throughout the day, ending with the championship race.  

Cyclists who have raced in past Grand Prix have gone on to become Olympians and world champions, organizers said.

In addition to the races, the festival features an antique bike show on the front lawn of the Fairmont Empress Hotel, a kids’ zone and a bicycle polo tournament.

Bicycle polo is, as it sounds, similar to traditional polo, but horses are switched out for bicycles.

"With strong partnerships with the City of Victoria, Victoria Sport Tourism Commission, and the Government of B.C., we have been able to keep this pillar event going for so long," race director Jon Watkin said in a news release in June.

"We want to continue to use it as a platform to celebrate the sport and jumpstart the sporting careers of the next generation of professional cyclists."