Remco Evenepoel leaves World Championship rivals behind to win GP Quebec

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) made an immediate statement on Friday by winning the GP Quebec. The Belgian became the first winner of the Canadian campaign, which continues with the GP Montreal on Sunday before the World Cycling Championships take place in that same city later this month.

With the World Championships approaching, a much stronger group of climbers than usual lined up in Quebec, a race that has traditionally been dominated by punchers in recent years. Michael Matthews, Benoit Cosnefroy and last year's winner Julian Alaphilippe have all been among the regular protagonists here. The Frenchman, incidentally, has since retired from professional cycling.

With Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro, Tom Pidcock, Paul Seixas and Juan Ayuso all on the start line, however, there was every chance the race would play out differently this time. Visma | Lease a Bike suffered a setback even before the real action began. Victor Campenaerts was ill and abandoned early, while team leader Louis Barré was ruled out after breaking his wrist in a training crash and now faces a longer spell on the sidelines.

The major teams were the ones taking responsibility at the front of the peloton. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, through Nico Denz, Pinarello-Q36.5 with Nick Zukowsky and Decathlon CMA CGM through Stefan Bissegger helped control a six-man breakaway consisting of Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious), Samuel Boardman (Modern Adventure), Storm Ingebrigtsen (Uno-X), Aivaris Mikutis (Tudor), Jonas Rutsch (Lotto-Intermarché) and Frank van den Broek of Picnic PostNL.

That remained the situation during the opening laps of the picturesque city circuit in Quebec, before Florian Vermeersch and Tim Wellens of UAE Team Emirates-XRG opened up the pre-finale with around 80 kilometres remaining.

Their move produced an impressive group that also included Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), Simone Gualdi, Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarché), Derek Gee-West, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Tim Rex (Visma | Lease a Bike), Noa Isidore (Decathlon CMA CGM), Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Bob Donaldson (Jayco AlUla) and Riley Sheehan of NSN.

The group immediately began working well together, but the biggest names sensed the danger and bridged across from behind on the next uphill section. Dutch riders Wilco Kelderman and Thymen Arensman both ran into mechanical trouble during this phase of the race, while Alpecin-Premier Tech's Kaden Groves was among the first riders reported to have abandoned.

With 50 kilometres remaining, a group of 28 riders suddenly escaped, with Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) among the better-known names. The move visibly caused some hesitation in the peloton, where there was no immediate response, allowing the group to quickly establish an advantage of around 45 seconds.

Seixas then launched a counterattack and took the other major favourites with him. Remarkably, Evenepoel initially missed the move and had to close the gap on his own, while the riders at the front began looking at one another rather than fully committing. It did not take long before Evenepoel had repaired the damage and everything came back together again.

With 28 kilometres to go, Evenepoel suddenly found himself clear in a small group alongside Anthon Charmig, Alberto Bettiol, Ciccone and Alessandro Pinarello. Unsurprisingly, the Belgian was the main driving force in the move. On the flatter roads in particular, the other riders were visibly suffering simply trying to remain on his wheel.

Evenepoel raised the pace another level on the climbs, while the other favourites also increased the tempo behind. Seixas' acceleration near the Château Frontenac proved too much for riders including Arensman and Healy, while at the front Evenepoel was left with only Charmig and Ciccone. The pair nevertheless fought hard to withstand the Belgian's relentless pace.

Behind them, a select chasing group remained, with Lidl-Trek holding three tactical cards in Toms Skujins, Simmons and Ayuso. Simmons took advantage of that numerical strength by attacking in pursuit, which also placed Ciccone in an ideal tactical position for the final five kilometres. With his teammate coming across from behind, the Italian no longer had any reason to contribute as the leaders approached the final 1.8-kilometre uphill section.

Evenepoel immediately pressed on again and that proved too much for Charmig. Ciccone was able to stay with the Belgian, much to Evenepoel's frustration, leaving the pair to settle the GP Quebec in a two-man sprint. Evenepoel was forced to lead it out from the front, but even from that position he was the strongest, completing an emphatic victory and delivering an early warning to his World Championship rivals.