Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec: Remco Evenepoel Claims an Aggressive Edition of the Key Pre-Worlds Test

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took the win in the first of the two Canadian one-day classics in a two-up sprint with Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek). The duo stole away with Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) with a few laps to go, and the much-reduced peloton couldn’t get back onto terms with the small escape after the fastest-ever edition of the GP Quebec.

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) made big efforts to cross the gap from the peloton in the last lap. Nevertheless, Evenepoel had enough of a gap to battle with Ciccone in the final kilometer of the day after Charmig was dropped on the final climb. In the end, the Belgian was able to sprint for the win even after the Italian used the pressure from Simmons behind to sit on the wheels for the last lap.

The race began under clear skies, with a few riders in arm warmers as Quebec welcomed cooler late-summer temperatures. 20 laps of the 10km lap were on tap, with the route taking on the same course as last year.

The race is known as the more sprint-friendly of the two Canadian WorldTour one-day races, but the shift in the finish location has made the finale more difficult, encouraging the likes of Evenepoel and Sexias to take a more focused approach to both races. Add in the UCI World Championships that will take place in Canada later this month, and this year’s Canadian one-days had an extra layer of anticipation.

The opening laps saw a few sporadic attacks before the day’s six-rider breakaway established itself on the second time up the key Côte de la Montagne (600m, 9%) climb. The breakaway of six included Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL), Aivaras Mikutis (Tudor Pro Cycling), Jonas Rutsch (Lotto-Intermarche), Storm Ingebrigtsen (Uno-X Mobility), Nikias Arndt (Bahrain – Victorious), and Sam Boardman (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling).

The breakaway pushed out a gap of around three and a half minutes before the peloton reined it in to 2:30 when the favorite teams started to set the tempo. Most of the impetus of the chase came from Pinarello Q36.5, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and Decathlon CMA CGM, the teams of the central favorites for the day.

The gap began to drop in earnest after the 100 km-to-go mark as the teams of the favorites ratcheted up the pace as the race ticked into the second half.

Attacks from the peloton began shortly after as the race hit the climb with a little over 80km to go, as Tim Wellens and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team put in an attack that drew out a select group of strong riders, including contenders like Quinn Simmons and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek), Riley Sheehan (NSN Cycling Team), and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost). That group of 11 quickly made inroads into the gap to the breakaway, but the peloton was wise to it, pulling the escape back on the climb.

This flurry of activity essentially brought the race all together as the breakaway was reeled in for good after counterattacks swept up the riders on the next time up the climb with 60km to go.

In the process of bringing the breakaway back into the fold, a strong group materialized at the front. By the time the group got around to 50km to go, a strong group of 12 riders formed off the front, with Sean Quinn and Jhonatan Narváez(UAE Team Emirates-XRG) among the catalysts dragging the group away from the dwindling peloton of contenders.

Finally, the race started to really stretch on the Côte de la Montagne with 4 laps remaining. Sexias was the main aggressor, attacking with Simmons on the steep section of the climb and then counterattacking over the top. While it didn’t break the race open, it did set the tone for a much more selective final to the race than in years prior. Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) was the next to go, spending a lap solo, before the next decisive move came from none other than Remco Evenepoel.

The Belgian attacked on the drag up to the line with three laps to go, pulling a group of five riders with him and quickly pulling Bettiol back. When the race hit the climb again, Sexias was forced to counter, attempting to bridge the gap to Evenepoel, with Simmons quickly snapping to his wheel. Ultimately, Sexias couldn’t close the gap, and Simmons, who had his teammate Ciccone in front with Evenepoel and Charmig.

This forced Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) back to the front to try and weld things back together for his teammates Narváez and Isaac del Toro. While the efforts of the peloton were enough to keep the gap within 30 seconds, there was still plenty of daylight between the leaders and the peloton as they arrived at the decisive climb for the second-to-last time.

Tom Pidcock was the next rider to force the issue from the peloton, pulling the peloton back to within 15 seconds as the chasing pack was whittled down to just a dozen or so favorites.

Simmons was the next rider to try to bridge across the fluctuating gap, making an effort to pull back the 15-odd seconds on his own as his teammate Ciccone sat on the wheels of his two breakaway companions. Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) was the only rider who tried to follow, but it wasn’t enough to match Simmons, who powered away from the rest of the favorites.

On the final climb, Evenepoel was able to shed Charmig early on the climb, but Ciconne was glued to his wheel. Simmons was still chasing solo, as was Pidcock, who managed to drop the rest of the favorites on the last climb.

Ultimately, the pressure from behind wasn’t enough to disrupt the final sprint between Evenepoel and Ciconne. The Italian, who had the leverage to sit on the full final lap, pushed Evenepoel close, but in the end the Belgian was just too powerful, taking the win by a bike length. Charmig held on for third, while Pidcock managed to claw back to fourth ahead of Simmons.