Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec 2023 [FULL RACE]

September 8, 2023

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec 2023 – Québec – Québec : 201,6 km

Together with the GP Montréal, the GP Québec offers riders from around the world a rare opportunity to race in North America and against a rather unique urban backdrop, completely different to any other event seen in Europe. It’s the first of the Canadian Classics and arguably the ‘easier’ of the two with around 1000m less climbing than its sister race in Montréal. The race is still really tough however; with its hilly lap circuit that features no less than four leg-breaking climbs per lap this can become one incredibly attritional and tactically nuanced race. The GP Québec is one of the youngest one-day races on the WorldTour calendar, starting its life back in 2010. Despite its short history, the race has created a well-known and much-loved city centre circuit that almost always catalyses aggressive and entertaining racing. The route features 16 laps of a 13km-long circuit, each lap containing four climbs that fall in pretty rapid succession. None are over 1km in length, but each average around 10% all the way to the top. With such short, sharp climbs falling in quick succession, the riders are offered zero respite, making this one of the most arduous and attritional races on the calendar. The most important climb the riders will face on the circuit is the Grande Allée. It’s the longest on the route, at 1km, and rises all the way to the finish line at an average gradient of 4% The finish of this race therefore favours the puncheurs of the peloton and those riders with an explosive uphill sprint.

Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) staged a massive coup to take out his first WorldTour victory in the Grand Prix Cycliste Québec, coming from behind in the long, uphill sprint and passing Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech).

Strong opened up the sprint and looked set to hold off Alex Aranburu (Movistar) but timed to too soon and De Lie was able to power past, relegating the Kiwi to second.

Two-time winner Michael Matthews couldn’t get through and had to settle for third ahead of the fading Aranburu.

The 21-year-old has been the cornerstone of Lotto Dstny’s win column, tallying 17 since he joined the team as a neo-pro last year but had never scored at the WorldTour level until now.

De Lie delivered in signature style, deploying his powerful jump after patiently waiting for the perfect moment – the result of careful study of past races here.

“I wanted to save my energy – I’ve watched a lot of the older editions and I knew that you had to wait for a long, long time. I had two teammates but I wanted to try and get the speed from behind,” De Lie said.

“I think the team worked perfectly today, it’s a really good victory. Taking the Grand Prix de Quebec is fantastic. I remember watching it when I was eight years old in 2010 and it’s amazing to be able to win it myself. It’s lovely to have it on my palmares.”

HOW IT UNFOLDED
When the peloton assembled at the start along Québec’s Grande Allée, the loudest cheers were reserved for the home contingent, among them Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech), who completed a journey on Friday by making his first appearance in the Canadian WorldTour races.

As a twelve-year-old, Gee was part of a group of enthusiasts who cycled the 200 or so kilometres from Ottawa to Montreal for the inaugural event in 2010. This year, the breakout star of the Giro d’Italia was one of the marquee names on show.

Québec had been toasted gently by early Autumn sunshine all week, but menacing clouds greeted the peloton on Friday morning, and the threat of rain added an additional layer of difficulty to the 12.6km urban circuit, which featured the short and sharp climbs of the Côte de la Montagne and Côte des Glacis ahead of the long drag to the line on the Grande Allée.

There was an immediate flurry of attacks when the flag dropped, but the race would settle into a pattern by the end of the first lap, with Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep), Gianmarco Garofoli (Astana-Qazaqstan), David Lozano (Novo Nordisk) and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) forging clear.

The quartet would build a maximum lead of four minutes or so before the peloton, with Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, Tudor and Jayco-Alula all prominent in leading the chase. As the laps ticked down, the break’s lead gradually began to wither as the speed and the succession of climbing exacted a toll.

Five laps from home, with a shade over 60km to race, the break’s lead was down to 1:25 and the first drops of rain began to fall gently over Québec. That in turn seemed only to add to the urgency of the bunch. A lap later, the gap was just 40 seconds, while a crash as the race came through the start-finish area saw several riders eliminated from contention, including Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ).

The escapees were eventually reeled in with 43km to go, and the subsequent ascent of the Côte des Glacis would see the first selection take place in the main peloton, with a number of riders shaken loose by the uptick in speed at the front, with Fausto Masnada (Soudal-QuickStep) driving the pace.

Lotto-Dstny looked to take a controlling interest at the head of the bunch with three laps to go on behalf of Arnaud De Lie, while Soudal-QuickStep were again to the fore when the road climbed in a bid to shake the Belgian and his fellow fast finishers loose.

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) lined things out still further with a long, long stint of pace-making setting the tone for an attritional penultimate lap, where the soaring speed discouraged attacks while continuing to whittle down the peloton still further.

Not for the first time, the GP de Québec was proving to be an elimination race, but the afternoon would ignite on the penultimate time up the Côte des Glacis, where Irish champion Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) launched a searing attack that only twenty or so riders could initially follow. The group doubled in size on the descent, with fast men including Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula) remaining firmly in the mix as the reduced front group took the bell for the final lap.

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