Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec 2017 [FULL RACE]

September 08, 2017

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec 2017 – Québec : 201,6 km

The Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec is a one-day professional bicycle road race held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Its first edition was on September 10, 2010, as the penultimate event in the 2010 UCI ProTour. The Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal held two days later are collectively known as the “Laurentian Classics”. Only Simon Gerrans has achieved a Laurentian double by winning both races in the same year.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) scored the 100th victory of his young but storied career, taking out the 2017 GP de Quebec with a powerful burst of speed in the final 50m.

The world champion had a clean pair of wheels on second-placed Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing), with Michael Matthews (Sunweb) sliding in for third. It was a repeat win for Sagan, who triumphed here last year in similar circumstances over Van Avermaet.

“It’s like if you stamp the same results from last year,” Sagan said. “The style of the race was very similar. The last kilometre, Rigoberto Urán attacked like always, and then went for the same in the last 100 meters.”

Urán’s teammates tried to counter his move in the final 200m, attacking on the right side of the road. But the Sunweb lead-out man for Matthews swung into their path, forcing Tom-Jelte Slagter to come around the long way. Sagan kept his cool and waited until there was a clear path up the centre, then blasted up the road to victory.

“It was hectic in the final. I decided I had to start at, I don’t know, 100 metres, 150,” Sagan said. “Thanks to my team. Bora-Hansgrohe did an amazing job. They were pulling all day at the front, and we were able to control the last three laps.”

When asked about taking the 100th win of his career, Sagan was pleased but philosophical.

“100 is very nice. It’s a nice number. But maybe it’s better to live a hundred years,” he said. “It’s very nice but it’s never enough. Once you’re happy with something, you don’t grow up, and we have to grow up always.”

Van Avermaet never looked to be in contention once Sagan went, and explained, “I lost Sagan’s wheel a little when he went, and I couldn’t have come past him, so I am pretty happy about my race. I would love to win here but second is not too bad.”

The Olympic champion has been building his form back after a hugely successful Spring Classics campaign and said he’s happy with his form and feeling confident for his defense of the GP de Montreal title.

“For me, the most important thing is that I still have a lot of power in my legs over the last kilometer and from there, whether you win or not, is all in the details. Today I was second, and hopefully, when we go to Montreal, I can repeat the same result as last year.”

How it unfolded

The first leg of the week’s pair of WorldTour one-days kicked off under cloudy skies in Quebec City, but the rain held off and the skies ultimately cleared to make for a sunny afternoon of racing on 16 trips around a lumpy 12.6-kilometre circuit.

Pier-Andre Côté (Canada), Tyler Williams (Israel Cycling Academy), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal) and Baptiste Planckaert (Katusha-Alpecin) formed the day’s main breakaway, getting away from the pack on the first lap and rapidly working their way to a sizable advantage.

With two and a half minutes in hand after completing the first lap, the quartet build their lead all the way up to nine and a half minutes by the fourth lap, at which point the peloton finally decided to match their pace.

Brought down to around eight minutes, the gap hovered there or thereabouts for the better part of the next hundred kilometres with little change in the race situation until Côte began struggling and lost touch with the break with 70 kilometres to go.

Back in the pack, several teams began showing more of a concerted interest in bringing things back together. Bahrain-Merida, Sky, Bora-Hansgrohe and BMC all made their presence felt at the head of affairs, and the gap to the three leaders started falling.

At 50 kilometres to go, the advantage of the break was down to 5:30. 15 kilometres later the gap was at two and a half minutes and continuing to fall.

Van der Sande and Planckaert dropped Williams in the 14th of 16 laps, pushing on as two. With Orica-Scott and Trek-Segafredo lending a hand in the chase, however, the gap was down under a minute inside the penultimate lap.

As FDJ’s Olivier Le Gac tried his luck off the front, Van der Sande called it a day in the escape. With Le Gac and Van der Sande reeled in, only Planckaert remained clear heading into the final lap of the race. He didn’t hold out for long, with everything brought back together for the final lap.

Successive attacks by Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal), Kenny Elissonde (Sky) and Roman Kreuziger (Orica-Scott) all came up short with Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe squad playing a big part in reeling in the moves. When Urán’s familiar strike on the long uphill drag to the line on the Grande Allée was brought to heel, it came down to the sprinters, with Sagan timing his move to perfection for the repeat win.

Results :
1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 5:00:31
2 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
4 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
5 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
7 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
8 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
10 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
11 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
13 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data
14 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
16 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
17 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
18 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
19 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
20 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
21 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
22 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott
23 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
24 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
25 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-Scott
26 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
27 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
28 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ
29 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
30 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team
31 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
32 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
33 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-Scott
34 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
35 Pieter Serry (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
36 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:12
37 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
38 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
39 Julien Vermote (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
40 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
41 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:17
42 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
43 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
44 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
45 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb
46 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
47 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
48 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
49 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
50 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
51 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
52 Bruno Langlois (Can) Canada
53 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
54 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data
55 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
56 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Canada 0:00:25
57 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
58 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott
59 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
60 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
61 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
62 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
63 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
64 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
65 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
66 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
67 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:38
68 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:41
69 Mitch Docker (Aus) Orica-Scott
70 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
71 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 0:00:48
72 Jose Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:51
73 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
74 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) FDJ 0:01:01
75 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:01:06
76 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
77 Jack Burke (Can) Canada
78 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
79 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
80 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin
81 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
82 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
83 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:12
84 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:15
85 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) FDJ 0:01:25
86 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ 0:01:38
87 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:43
88 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
89 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
90 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
91 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:56
92 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
93 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:02:08
94 Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors
95 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
96 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
97 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
98 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
99 Ryan Anderson (Can) Canada
100 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
101 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:31
102 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:33
103 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
104 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
105 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:49
106 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:53
107 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Canada 0:03:02
108 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
109 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
110 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
111 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
112 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
113 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
114 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:26
115 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:41
116 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
117 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:27
118 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky
119 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
120 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
121 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:53
122 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:59
123 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
124 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:06:04
125 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:23
126 Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy
127 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott
128 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
129 Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ
130 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
131 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
132 Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data
133 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
134 Twan Castelijns (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
135 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
136 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
137 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:11:01
138 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team
139 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
140 Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:11:07
141 Benjamin Perry (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:11:22
142 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:17:06
DNF Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky
DNF Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Zico Waeytens (Bel) Team Sunweb
DNF Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Borut Bozic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
DNF Moreno Moser (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ
DNF Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
DNF Pier-Andre Cote (Can) Canada
DNF Alexander Cowan (Can) Canada
DNF Marc-Antoine Soucy (Can) Canada
DNF Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy