Nordhaug guts out a victory in Montréal

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Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) held off a chasing bunch to take the biggest victory of his career at the GP Cyclist Montréal.

Nordhaug went with 4.5km to go, but it looked like he’d gone too early when he was passed by Alexander Kolobnev (Katusha) and Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale). Kolobnev surprised the bunch under the flamme rouge, with Moser moving out to take him with 100 metres to go. Nordhaug found another kick in his legs to overhaul the pair to win by two seconds.

The Norwegian is riding in his last season for Sky, he will be moving to Rabobank in the coming season. “I am leaving, but I’m happy I could get my chances to win,” Nordhaug said after the race. “I tried to cover the moves, but with 3km to go I felt good and Edvald [Boasson Hagen] was screaming on the radio ‘go’. I thought I would get beaten in the sprint but I wasn’t.”

Moser’s teammate Sagan was one of the pre-race favourites, but the Slovakian missed the split in the lead group. “I would like to have helped Peter so I went to the front of the group. I was on my own there so I followed Lars. I’m happy about this result; I didn’t feel good to start but towards the end, I started to feel better so I’m happy with this result.”

Friday’s winner Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) just missed the podium in fourth, with Nordhaug’s teammate and compatriot, Edvald Boasson Hagen, finishing in fifth.

A number of attacks went off the front in the opening laps, but it was Eduardo Vorganov (Katusha) who launched the first serious looking attack. The Russian was forced to make the gap on his own until he was joined by Manuele Baoro (Saxo Bank - Tinkoff) and Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Cannondale). Canadian national champion Ryan Roth (Spidertech) bridged the gap to the three leaders also.

The quartet was brought back, but Baoro made another effort after 31km. Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) hunted down the Italian and made contact soon after starting the fourth lap. Behind them Garmin-Sharp put in a big effort to bring the peloton, which was still in two, back together. Once the lead had reached 30 seconds the peloton looked happy to let the three go and their advantage quickly increased.

Tired of waiting, Simone Ponzi (Astana) and Kristijan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) made a move. With five minutes to the escapees it was always going to be a tough challenge to bridge the gap. The injection of pace caught a few riders out, including Heinrich Haussler, who went right off the back of the peloton.

On the 11th tour Ponzi and Koren’s attack was finally brought to the end. The catch signalled several jumps out of the front of the group, but it took a couple of attempts for something to stick. Selvaggi, who was in one of the early escapes, put his cards on the table and went for a lone bid. The Italian didn’t get too far and was left dangling off the front of the bunch for a lap. Baoro was the first of the three leaders to snap on the 14 ascent of the Côte Camillien-Houde.

With three laps remaining the peloton finally caught sight of the two remaining escapees as the doubled back on the Avenue de Parc. Katusha was driving the peloton now with Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) for assistance. Content that they would catch the leading pair before the end the peloton were happy to let them stay out front until the penultimate lap, allowing Gautier to take enough point to secure the king of the mountains competition. It was all together, but strung-out, as the riders neared the final lap with a number of riders trying to get away.

In the midst of the action the day was ended for Janez Brajkovic and Gerald Ciolek as the pair crashed in the peloton. Team Sky took to the front at the top of the climb to reduce the main bunch to some 20 riders, including Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Québec winner Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) plus a number of other pre-race favourites.

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) decided to go earlier than in Québec, attacking at the 7km to go mark. The move didn’t work and the Belgian was swallowed by the strong group. Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) positioned himself a few metres in front of the group, forcing the other teams to respond.

The response came from Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil). While they were all watching Nordhaug, Alexander Kolobnev jumped the group under the flamme rouge. It looked like he might just make it but Nordhaug found the strength to overhaul the Russian with Moser in second and Kolobnev slumping to third.

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