Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) spent much of the decisive phase of Friday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec around 20 seconds ahead of his main rivals, then won the first of Canada’s two World Championships dress rehearsals.
Several had teammates available and could see the lead group up the road but failed to co-ordinate a chase to get them back before the finish.
Evenepoel worked hard once in the lead group and did the lion’s share of the work before eventually beating Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) in the sprint.
Results
Sep 11
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Remco Evenepoel | RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHERED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE | 4:40:21 |
| 🥈 | Giulio Ciccone | LIDL-TREKLIDL-TREK | +0:00 |
| 🥉 | Anthon Charmig | UNO-X MOBILITYUNO-X MOBILITY | +0:15 |
| 4 | Thomas Pidcock | PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAMPINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM | +0:28 |
| 5 | Quinn Simmons | LIDL-TREKLIDL-TREK | +0:30 |
| 6 | Michael James Matthews | TEAM JAYCO ALULATEAM JAYCO ALULA | +0:35 |
| 7 | Paul Lapeira | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAMDECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | +0:43 |
| 8 | Matteo Jorgenson | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKETEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | +0:43 |
| 9 | Alessandro Pinarello | NSN CYCLING TEAMNSN CYCLING TEAM | +0:45 |
| 10 | Maximilian Schachmann | SOUDAL QUICK-STEPSOUDAL QUICK-STEP | +0:47 |
| 11 | Jenno Berckmoes | LOTTO INTERMARCHÉLOTTO INTERMARCHÉ | +0:57 |
| 12 | Maxim van Gils | RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHERED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE | +0:57 |
| 13 | Simone Gualdi | LOTTO INTERMARCHÉLOTTO INTERMARCHÉ | +0:57 |
| 14 | Alex Baudin | EF EDUCATION - EASYPOSTEF EDUCATION - EASYPOST | +0:57 |
| 15 | Sean Quinn | EF EDUCATION - EASYPOSTEF EDUCATION - EASYPOST | +0:57 |
| 16 | Andrea Raccagni Noviero | SOUDAL QUICK-STEPSOUDAL QUICK-STEP | +0:57 |
| 17 | Paul Seixas | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAMDECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | +0:57 |
| 18 | Quinten Hermans | PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAMPINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM | +0:57 |
| 19 | Jonas Rutsch | LOTTO INTERMARCHÉLOTTO INTERMARCHÉ | +1:01 |
| 20 | Toms Skujins | LIDL-TREKLIDL-TREK | +1:05 |
| 21 | Brandon Mcnulty | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRGUAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | +1:11 |
| 22 | Alberto Bettiol | XDS ASTANA TEAMXDS ASTANA TEAM | +1:11 |
| 23 | Jhonatan Narvaez Prado | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRGUAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | +1:11 |
| 24 | Thymen Arensman | NETCOMPANY INEOSNETCOMPANY INEOS | +1:11 |
| 25 | Riley Sheehan | NSN CYCLING TEAMNSN CYCLING TEAM | +1:15 |
| 26 | Ben Healy | EF EDUCATION - EASYPOSTEF EDUCATION - EASYPOST | +1:43 |
| 27 | Bart Lemmen | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKETEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | +1:43 |
| 28 | Juan Ayuso Pesquera | LIDL-TREKLIDL-TREK | +2:24 |
| 29 | Yannis Voisard | TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAMTUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM | +2:54 |
| 30 | Georg Zimmermann | LOTTO INTERMARCHÉLOTTO INTERMARCHÉ | +2:57 |
| 31 | Derek Gee | LIDL-TREKLIDL-TREK | +2:57 |
| 32 | Guillermo Thomas Silva Coussan | XDS ASTANA TEAMXDS ASTANA TEAM | +2:57 |
| 33 | Afonso Eulálio | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUSBAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | +2:57 |
| 34 | Corbin John Strong | NSN CYCLING TEAMNSN CYCLING TEAM | +2:57 |
| 35 | Lennert van Eetvelt | LOTTO INTERMARCHÉLOTTO INTERMARCHÉ | +2:57 |
| 36 | Tobias Svarre | UNO-X MOBILITYUNO-X MOBILITY | +2:57 |
| 37 | Ben Oliver | MODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLINGMODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLING | +2:57 |
| 38 | Robbe Dhondt | TEAM PICNIC POSTNLTEAM PICNIC POSTNL | +3:03 |
| 39 | Edoardo Zambanini | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUSBAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | +3:07 |
| 40 | Thibaud Gruel | GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITEDGROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED | +3:10 |
| 41 | Luke Lamperti | EF EDUCATION - EASYPOSTEF EDUCATION - EASYPOST | +3:14 |
| 42 | Alessandro Borgo | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUSBAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | +3:17 |
| 43 | Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia | XDS ASTANA TEAMXDS ASTANA TEAM | +3:18 |
| 44 | Nelson Oliveira | MOVISTAR TEAMMOVISTAR TEAM | +3:18 |
| 45 | Kieran Haug | MODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLINGMODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLING | +3:18 |
| 46 | Andrew Jacob August | NETCOMPANY INEOSNETCOMPANY INEOS | +3:18 |
| 47 | Quentin Pacher | GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITEDGROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED | +3:18 |
| 48 | Tiesj Benoot | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAMDECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | +3:18 |
| 49 | Robin Donzé | TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAMTUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM | +3:18 |
| 50 | Steff Cras | SOUDAL QUICK-STEPSOUDAL QUICK-STEP | +3:18 |
| 51 | Davide Toneatti | XDS ASTANA TEAMXDS ASTANA TEAM | +3:18 |
| 52 | Anders Skaarseth | UNO-X MOBILITYUNO-X MOBILITY | +3:18 |
| 53 | Wilco Kelderman | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKETEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | +3:18 |
| 54 | Tim Rex | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKETEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | +3:18 |
| 55 | Isaac del Toro Romero | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRGUAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | +3:18 |
| 56 | Adam Richard Yates | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRGUAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | +3:18 |
| 57 | Sam Oomen | LIDL-TREKLIDL-TREK | +3:31 |
| 58 | Aaron Dockx | ALPECIN-PREMIER TECHALPECIN-PREMIER TECH | +3:31 |
| 59 | Clément Braz Afonso | GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITEDGROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED | +3:31 |
| 60 | Stefan de Bod | MODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLINGMODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLING | +3:50 |
| 61 | Kasper Asgreen | EF EDUCATION - EASYPOSTEF EDUCATION - EASYPOST | +4:15 |
| 62 | Florian Vermeersch | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRGUAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | +4:15 |
| 63 | Pelayo Sanchez Mayo | MOVISTAR TEAMMOVISTAR TEAM | +4:15 |
| 64 | Giovanni Aleotti | RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHERED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE | +4:15 |
| 65 | Alec Segaert | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUSBAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | +4:15 |
| 66 | Michael Russell Woods | -- | +4:15 |
| 67 | Michael Shea Leonard | EF EDUCATION - EASYPOSTEF EDUCATION - EASYPOST | +4:15 |
| 68 | Nicolas Prodhomme | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAMDECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | +4:52 |
| 69 | Noa Isidore | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAMDECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | +4:52 |
| 70 | Johan Jacobs | GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITEDGROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED | +4:52 |
| 71 | Nickolas Zukowsky | PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAMPINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM | +8:05 |
| 72 | Sven Erik Bystrøm | UNO-X MOBILITYUNO-X MOBILITY | +8:05 |
| 73 | Pier-André Côté | NSN CYCLING TEAMNSN CYCLING TEAM | +8:05 |
| 74 | Warren Barguil | TEAM PICNIC POSTNLTEAM PICNIC POSTNL | +10:52 |
| 75 | Frank van den Broek | TEAM PICNIC POSTNLTEAM PICNIC POSTNL | +10:52 |
| 76 | Byron Munton | MODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLINGMODERN ADVENTURE PRO CYCLING | +10:52 |
| 77 | Brandon Smith Rivera Vargas | NETCOMPANY INEOSNETCOMPANY INEOS | +11:51 |
With around 27 kilometres remaining, Evenepoel joined Ciccone, Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility), Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana Team) and Alessandro Pinarello (NSN). Bettiol had gone clear alone before the others reached him. Evenepoel just rode across like he wasn’t the former world and current Olympic champion. The bigger favourites had just spent the last 20 minutes attacking each other and decided this was the move they weren’t going to follow.
“The move that got away was quite a soft move at first, which is often the way it goes, but then nobody could bring it back,” Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) said in his team’s race report.
Pidcock looked very strong and was the best of the rest behind the eventual podium from the break. His attacks on the climbs reduced the gap to 14 seconds on the final lap, but he finished fourth, 28 seconds down, after catching American champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) who had attacked a few kilometres earlier.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) tried to restart the chase and later accelerated himself. Matthews and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) also looked strong, but their moves constantly stalled as they looked at each other while teammates failed to push on for their leaders.
Pidcock had Quinten Hermans alongside him in the closing stages, while Decathlon also had Nicolas Prodhomme with Seixas for the majority of the race before Paul Lapeira managed to chase back on and sprint to a strong seventh on the day. Both Lapeira and Hermans should probably have worked harder for their leaders and not focused on the more minor places, but Lapeira did manage to get a top 10 from the day for Decathlon-CMA CGM while Pidcock took a strong fourth.
Ciccone was ahead, giving Simmons, who eventually finished fifth, a teammate to protect. Counting every strong rider behind as someone obliged to chase would misread that situation. Lidl-Trek also had Toms Skujins up in the main group for much of the day, allowing the German registered squad to play the numbers game.
Ciccone also used his teammates’ presence to limit his contribution up front. “I was playing a bit on the situation because I had a few riders on my team just behind,” he said in Lidl-Trek’s race report.
Evenepoel benefited from that imbalance. He did much of the work, and the climbs removed Bettiol and Pinarello before Charmig lost contact on the final ascent. Ciccone stayed with him, but could not finish the job in the sprint.
“I didn’t have the explosiveness I needed on the final climb to really drop the other two, but I kept going and trusted my sprint,” Evenepoel said in Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s account.
UAE’s numbers failed to shape the race
UAE Team Emirates-XRG had multiple riders involved in the chase, yet their best finishers were Brandon McNulty in 21st and Jhonatan Narváez in 23rd, both 1:11 behind. Isaac Del Toro finished 55th, at 3:18, after looking unusually flat.
Narváez had been in the lead groups earlier in the race but didn’t look like he was as on form as he usual does since joining UAE. They all looked to be lacking the legs on the day to challenge the other top names.
Del Toro’s ride was disappointing given that he has been billed as the rider to keep rainbows at UAE for next season with Pogačar's absence. That said, it is early in this Canadian block and the Mexican national champion will likely be hoping to peak for the Worlds rather than the Canadian WorldTour races. And there is the possibility that jetlag is to blame for some riders’ surprising performances. Sunday’s harder Montréal course suits the team far more and we may see them play a greater role there.
Hermans was relegated after the sprint crash
Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) crashed in the final 50 metres after Seixas moved sharply left into him. Ayuso eventually walked across the line to finish 28th.
The most visible contact brought immediate online blame for Seixas. However, footage suggested a chain reaction involving movement from his right, and other observers traced the initial movement to Hermans. Seixas’ abrupt change of direction wasn’t a deliberate deviation but rather an involuntary movement caused by a touch of wheels.
The commissaires sanctioned Hermans for deviating from his chosen line and obstructing or endangering another rider. He was relegated and fined CHF500, with a yellow card also issued.
The official classification places Seixas 17th and Hermans 18th, at the back of their group. Seixas was not relegated. The correct decision.
GP Montréal is next on the Canadian block. The direct comparison to the Worlds as it shares the same circuit as the championship’s road race that will take place on September 25. While all the main contenders are not present, the majority are there for the dress rehearsal of the Worlds road race.
