The GP Québec is not for everyone; it is not a predictable race on the calendar. With its local circuit over explosive hills, the top riders are always expected to be at the front, but it is often attackers, surprising punchers, or men with great autumn legs who win. Friday was no different, as Tadej Pogacar and Wout van Aert only played a role in the chase.
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Pogacar has made the trip to Canada twice before. In 2022, he won the GP Montréal, which will be held on Sunday as the second race of a Canadian doubleheader, but he did not really shine in Québec, finishing in 24th place. Last year, he rode at full throttle, but it was Michael Matthews who stormed past him with a sprinting group. Pogacar finished seventh.
On Friday, the Slovenian world champion from UAE Team Emirates-XRG was again unable to win. Pogacar did accelerate, but that was from a peloton that was already in a beaten position. The winning group with Julian Alaphilippe was already ahead early in the race. Pogacar finished 29th, according to La Flamme Rouge, his worst result in a WorldTour classic since that 24th place in Québec in 2022.
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Van Aert disappointed with race in Québec
While Pogacar will be looking to redeem himself for the third time in Montréal on Sunday, something he managed to do in 2022 and 2024 with victories, Wout van Aert had undoubtedly set his sights on Friday in Québec. The Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike will need powerful legs to compete for the win on the more challenging course around Montréal, and those legs were still missing, he said honestly.
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“We weren’t positioned well enough once the finale began,” Van Aert analysed to the media present, as recorded by Visma | Lease a Bike. “We couldn’t follow the counterattacks, and the chase never really got organized. The plan was for Tiesj and me to save something for the last lap. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out.”
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Van Aert didn't have the legs for the win
Van Aert finished fourth in Québec in 2022, but this time had to settle for fourteenth place in the day's results, in a large group 17 seconds behind winner Alaphilippe. “We had to react a bit too early to neutralize attacks. By the final ascent of the climb, we were no longer riding for the win but just for a place of honour.”
“There was definitely more possible today,” Van Aert concluded. But: "I also have to admit that I simply didn’t have the legs to win. I look back with mixed feelings."
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.