Isaac del Toro powers past Paul Seixas to victory on World Championship course in Montreal, Remco Evenepoel unable to follow

An extremely important week is taking place in Canada. The GP Québec and GP Montréal have been established names on the cycling calendar for some time, but this year they carry even more significance thanks to the World Championships being held in the North American country. Remco Evenepoel won in Québec, but in Montréal everyone wanted the victory even more, as the World Championships will take place in the same city next week.

A victory in Canada’s second-largest city would therefore have carried extra value ahead of the battle for the rainbow jersey. The start list was packed with talent: Evenepoel was present once again, but Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello - Q36.5) and many other contenders were also on the start line.

Nine riders managed to form the early breakaway. Jérôme Gauthier was the only Canadian rider, representing the national team. The move also included Michal Kwiatkowski (Netcompany INEOS), Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step), Adne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Anders Foldager (Jayco AlUla), Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar), Robbe Dhondt (Picnic PostNL), Robin Carpenter and Kieran Haug (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling).

The escapees were given very little freedom. Due to the work of teams including Lidl-Trek, their advantage had already disappeared halfway through the race, while riders were constantly being dropped from the peloton throughout the day. Among those forced to abandon were Paul Lapeira (Decathlon CMA CGM), Florian Vermeersch (UAE) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), who had crashed on Friday. A crash involving Bart Lemmen and Thymen Arensman also brought their race to an early end.

With 40 kilometres remaining, the finale truly came alive when Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) launched an attack. One lap later, a group containing Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), Afonso Eulaio (Bahrain Victorious), Isaac del Toro, Adam Yates and Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates-XRG reacted. Evenepoel was unable to follow at that moment, which was a surprising development.

The Belgian rider became frustrated shortly afterwards and launched a chase, eventually closing a 40-second gap impressively on the flat roads. Evenepoel made contact before the final ascent of Mont Royal, where Healy began the climb with a small advantage. On the climb, Seixas went all-out towards the summit, catching and passing the Irishman. Just before the top, Del Toro bridged across.

The duo worked together well, meaning the decisive moment had effectively arrived. Seixas tried another attack on a rising section of road, but Del Toro remained calmly seated on his wheel. The final decision therefore had to come on the last uphill 800 metres. There, as expected, Del Toro proved to be the faster rider.