The story of Vélo Québec officially begins on January 4, 1967 with the incorporation of the Fédération cyclotouriste provinciale. At a time of great social change in Quebec, when religion was giving way to flower power, it was a man of the cloth who took the initiative: Shawinigan-born Redemptorist Father Gabriel Lupien, one of Quebec's first cassocked physical educators. A teacher in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré at the time, Lupien had long been keen to show young cyclists how to practice their sport safely, particularly through tourist trips.
As early as 1956, he founded the École de cyclotourisme, which was so popular that it became a touring school. The man nicknamed «the good Lord on a bike» went on to evangelize cyclists in Montmagny, Lac-Mégantic and Trois-Rivières.
In 1973, the Fédération cyclotouriste provinciale became the Fédération québécoise de cyclotourisme, and then in 1979, Vélo Québec, a name which at the time did not meet with unanimous approval, as the word "vélo", it was pointed out, did not mean much to the average person.
Time would eventually change this perception, and so would Gabriel Lupien's reality. So, in 1971, the man who had been a Redemptorist father and the father of Vélo Québec retired and even became... a father of five!
