'I did maybe 10-second turns, Remco Evenepoel pulled for minutes'

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) lived up to his status as favourite at the GP Québec on Friday. The Belgian was joined on the podium by Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility), who both made it clear in their post-race interviews that they partly had Evenepoel to thank for their podium places after the enormous amount of work he had done at the front.

“As a team, we were incredibly strong. I was at the front with Remco and I was really suffering. All credit to him, because he did most of the work on the front. In the end, I finished second. It’s my first time here, so I can definitely be happy with that. Winning is always the goal, of course, but this is a result I can live with.

“We tried to cover every attack at the front. Sometimes you also simply need a little bit of luck and have to be in the right place at the right moment. But as I said, we had three or four riders represented at the front, so the team put in an incredibly strong performance.

“I heard over the radio that the chasers were getting close, so I tried to play it as smartly as possible. But Remco was simply incredibly strong, including in the sprint. I gave it everything I had, and I can be happy with this result.”

“Actually, the plan was to wait a little longer before making a move in the finale. But you see how the race develops, and at that point I knew it was simply a matter of getting myself into the move. I did more or less the same thing last year and finished seventh. So I knew it was a good way to approach this race. I’m happy with how it turned out.

“To be honest, I was mainly trying to help Remco a little. He was by far the strongest rider today. I was taking turns of maybe ten seconds, while he would keep pulling for a few minutes at a time. So he more than deserved this victory.

“This summer I was forced out of the Tour de France, which was a huge disappointment. Once I got home, I took the time I needed to recover and then focused completely on these Canadian races. I’m happy that the form is good, and I’m looking forward to what’s coming next.”