We were expecting Tadej Pogacar. Instead, it was the Australian Michael Matthews who signed a record third victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec.
The Jayco AlUla rider won the fastest edition of the UCI World Tour classic. His average of 42.353 km/h was faster than the previous record of 42.226 km/h, set in 2014.
His third victory also makes him the most successful cyclist in Quebec. He shared the mark until then with Peter Sagan.
Matthews, also crowned in 2018 and 2019, beat Eritrean Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) in a furious sprint after 4 hours 45:36 of effort to cover the 201.6 km. The first 35 riders finished in the same time.
Pogacar, the big favourite who was aiming for victories in Quebec and Montreal on Sunday, was unable to continue his attack with just over 2 km to go until the finish line. He finished in seventh place.
Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) was the top Canadian, finishing the race in the lead pack in 31st place . His teammate Hugo Houle finished in 67th place , 49 seconds behind the winner.
Their leader Corbin Strong, who had been bothered for a few days by stomach discomfort, was unable to complete the race. Derek Gee, who wanted to be the team’s “plan B” for this race, did not have the legs to follow the best. He was the 110th to cross the line, almost five minutes after Matthews.
Morgensen tries his luck
It was American Matteo Morgensen (Visma) who first launched a serious attack at the end of the race, with some 10 km to go. He managed to build up a lead of almost 20 seconds on the peloton, with Pogacar and Julien Alaphilippe in particular in pursuit, but it didn’t hold.
With 3.4 km to go, Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and two teammates joined him. The three Soudals were joined by Arnaud De Lie, winner in 2023, and his teammate at Lotto-Dstny Maxim Van Gils, as well as Pogacar then launched in front.
Alaphilippe was dropped with 2.1km to go – he would eventually finish 81st – and the leaders were caught with 1km to go. Pogacar then found himself stuck behind, unable to catch Matthews, who had slipped through the crowd.
The field of these Quebec and Montreal Cycling Grand Prix will now move to the metropolis for Sunday’s race.
Leave a Reply