Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec 2018 [LAST 20 KM]

September 8, 2018

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec 2018 – Québec – Québec : 201,6 km

The ninth edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on Friday, September 7 will once again host the world’s strongest one-day specialists, headlined by the participation of Olympic road race champion Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) as he looks to add a triumph to his four previous podium finishes at the Canadian WorldTour event. “I always love racing in Canada, especially because the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Montréal are two races that really suit me,” said Van Avermaet, who won in 2016 at the Montreal race, which is held two days after the GP Cycliste de Québec. “I have raced well in the past, and I’m hoping to return to the podium again this year. The circuit in both races is not easy, which is better for me because I always have a better sprint after a long, hard race.” Van Avermaet arrives at the end of the season as a top contender having spent eight days in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France in July. He resumed racing in August with fourth place at the Clasica San Sebastian and sixth overall at the BinckBank Tour. “I’ve had a good rest after the BinckBank Tour, and I’m looking forward to getting back into racing this week,” he said. Van Avermaet will have support from teammates Damiano Caruso, Kilian Frankiny, Michael Schär, Nathan Van Hooydonck, Danilo Wyss and Simon Gerrans, who won in Quebec City in 2012 and 2014, and in Montreal in 2014. The circuit’s puncheur-style climbs will, as always, favour riders like Van Avermaet, who has finished a frustrating three times as a runner-up: in 2012 to Gerrans, and in 2016 and 2017 to Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) on both occasions.

Michael Matthews (Sunweb) was the one of the favourites to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec and he lived up to everyone’s expectations taking the bunch-sprint victory on the Grande Allée. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) finished second for a fourth time, while Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) was third.

“It’s been a rocky start to my year and I’m just really happy that I’ve been able to turn it around in a positive way for the second half of the season,” said Matthews, who dedicated the victory to his wife and daughter.

“I could have sat up and said ‘I’ll give this season a miss and move on to next year’ but the team kept a lot of positivity in me and kept me motivated to the second half of the season. My wife and I sacrificed and put a lot into making sure that I was good enough to perform. It was really great to get this win today.”

Mitchelton-Scott pulled back late-attacker Peter Kennaugh (Bora-Hansgrohe) inside the final 400 metres, ensuring a bunch sprint. Van Avermaet started his sprint early but Matthews, who was second in 2015 and and third last year, showed his experience on the uphill drag, waiting patiently for the right moment to make his winning move.

How it unfolded

Organisers of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec once again offered a challenging parcours routed in and around the walls of the 400-year-old Quebec City.

In its ninth edition, and with no course changes to the previous years, the peloton once again contested a 16 laps of a 12.6km circuit that included climbs over Rue de la Montagne, Cote de la Potasse, and the less decisive Montée de la Fabrique, before looping back around to the uphill drag to the finish line on the Grande Allée.

A breakaway set off in the opening lap of the race with three representatives from Canada; Rob Britton (Rally), and Bruno Langlois and Alex Cataford (both Team Canada). The breakaway also included Guy Sagiv (Isreal Cycling Academy) and Nicolas Dougall (Dimension Data).

The quintet quickly pushed their gap out to three minutes as they rounded the first lap, and then to six minutes before the 50-kilometre mark.

BMC did the lion’s share of the pace-setting to stop the breakaway from gaining any additional time, which would keep Van Avermaet in contention for the day’s win.

Three separate crashes happened on course with BMC’s Nathan Van Hooydonck doing down on the descent off of the Cote Gilmore 35 kilometres into the race. He was able to get back on his bike and resume his efforts at the front of the field. Movistar’s Nuno Bico wasn’t as fortunate after a dog ran into the peloton causing him to hit the ground and abandon the race.

A larger crash took down four riders: Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy), Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First-Drapac), Lachlan Morton and Tom-Jelte-Slagter (Dimension Data). All were able to resume racing with the exception of Plaza, who abandoned in the final laps.

The gap to the breakaway dropped to under four minutes when Sunweb took to the front of the race to assume the responsibilities with roughly 60km to go (five laps). Their advantage was cut down to one minute, however, with three laps to go as Michael Valgren led Astana in a heated chase to bring back the five men and reset the race in the closing laps.

The breakaway fell apart over the successful climbs with Sagiv and Britton the last to hang on to a small lead. The pair were joined by Kennaugh, who bridge across on the penultimate lap.

Remi Cavagne (Quick-Step Floors) countered that move from the main field, joined by Baptiste Planckaert (Katusha-Alpecin) and Sebastian Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) but their efforts proved fruitless and they were brought back several kilometres later.

Kennaugh pushed hard over the punchy climbs, which proved to be too demanding for breakaway riders Britton and Sagiv, and the pair sat up and drifted back into the field after a long day out front.

Robin Carpenter (Rally Cycling) launched himself out of the field over the Montée de la Fabrique, followed by Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale), Jacob Fuglsang (Astana), Nathan Brown (EF-Drapac), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Nathan Earl (Israel Cycling Academy).

BMC Racing pushed the speeds near maximum ahead of the main field, catching the six chase riders with seven kilometres to go, while Kennaugh desperately tried to hang onto his mere 20-second lead.

He pushed over every small rise and sat tucked onto his top-tube on every descent, but only a handful of seconds separated him from the field in the last kilometre. He was eventually caught within 400 metres to go, just as the bunch kick ignited.

Results :
1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 5:04:17
2 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
3 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
4 Timo Roosen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
5 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
7 Arthur Vichot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
9 Michael Valgren (Den) Astana Pro Team
10 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
11 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
14 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
16 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
17 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
18 Paul Martens (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo
19 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Sky
20 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
21 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
22 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
23 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
24 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally Cycling
25 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
26 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:06
27 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
28 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:07
29 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
30 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
31 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
32 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
33 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
34 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
35 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
36 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
37 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
38 Benjamin Perry (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
39 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
40 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
41 James Piccoli (Can) CANADA
42 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally Cycling
43 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
44 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
45 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
46 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
47 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
48 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
49 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:18
50 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:22
51 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
52 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
53 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
54 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky 0:00:32
55 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:35
56 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
57 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:40
58 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:50
59 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
60 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
61 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:01
62 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:15
63 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
64 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:01:19
65 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
66 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
67 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
68 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
69 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
70 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
71 Florian Senechal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:26
72 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:32
73 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
74 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
75 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:35
76 Bruno Langlois (Can) Canada
77 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
78 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors
79 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:46
80 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
81 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
82 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:01:54
83 Pier Andre Cote (Can) Canada 0:02:01
84 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:17
85 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:46
86 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:00
87 Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) LottoNL-Jumbo
88 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
89 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
90 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:03:03
91 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
92 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:08
93 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
94 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:11
95 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
96 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:13
97 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:03:16
98 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:30
99 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
100 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:03:37
101 Adam Roberge (Can) Canada
102 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky 0:04:02
103 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
104 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
105 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
106 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:08
107 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
108 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
109 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo
110 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
111 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
112 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally Cycling
113 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:05:37
114 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:06:20
115 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:06:46
116 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
117 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:09:32
118 Alexander Cataford (Can) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
119 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
120 Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team
121 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
122 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
123 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:09:35
DNF Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
DNF Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
DNF Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
DNS Magnus Cort (Den) Astana Pro Team
DNF Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo
DNF Kristijan Koren (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
DNS Lars Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
DNF Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
DNF William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Nicolas Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
DNF Ruben Plaza (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Edward Walsh (Can) Canada
DNF Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Canada