Gerrans wins GP de Montréal

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Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) secured his second consecutive victory of the weekend at the WorldTour finale Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sunday. After winning in Quebec City on Friday, the Australian sprinter out-paced world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol) to grant his team it’s 101st victory on the streets on Montreal.

Gerrans used every last teammate to aid in his victory by managing an all-day breakaway, dragging attacks back on the final climb over the circuit’s decisive ascent on Mont Royal, and along the descent through the city’s downtown streets toward the finish line on Avenue du Parc.

"I couldn’t have asked any more of the team again today," Gerrans said. "We set out a plan at the start of the day, everyone followed it perfectly and the race unfolded exactly as we wanted.

"To still have four or five teammates there coming into the final was amazing so I am just really happy to be able to finish off some great teamwork again."

The field swallowed up the last rider of a four-man breakaway at the base of the 17th and final climb over Mont Royal. Costa was the first to make an attack but he failed to make a clean break and was soon joined by a select group that included Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge). Gerrans jumped across with Lotto Belisol teammates Tim Wellens and Tony Gallopin, causing the collective lead group to reconsider its odds with such a fast finisher in the mix.

Several bridge attempts helped bring the group back together before the circuit’s second smaller climb. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) moved to the front and put in a strong effort, and although they weren’t able to get a gap, they successfully whittled down the group in contention for the win.

Costa made a second attack on the descent toward Avenue du Parc with three kilometers to go. He managed to clear the field by a few seconds but the move was short-lived as Peter Weening led his Orica-GreenEdge team into an organized lead-out for Gerrans.

How it unfolded

The fifth edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal's 205.7km race, 17 laps of a 12km course, was held on challenging but familiar circuit over Mont Royal with versions of it previously used as a World Championships course in 1974, Olympic Games route in 1976, a men's World Cup course in the 1980s and 1990s, and a women's World Cup course in the 1990s and 2000s.

They day’s breakaway formed over the first ascent with Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ), Louis Vervaeke (Lotto) and Jan Polanc (Lampre), who was also represented in the breakaway during the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on Friday. Ryan Roth (Canada) later bridged across to the three riders and they built up a lead of 11 minutes after the first few laps.

Movistar’s fast-paced chase from behind split the field into three with Gerrans caught in the third chase group. Orica-GreenEgde’s Christian Meier and Mathew Hayman did much of the work ahead of the second main group to close down the gap and the three groups came back together six laps into the race.

Hayman led the chase with help from two Katusha riders, bringing the gap to the break down to under ten minutes, while also looking back after the climb keep en eye on their respective sprinters Gerrans and Alexander Kristoff.

Astana threw in a few riders to help with the chase at the halfway point of the race and helped reduce the gap to under seven minutes, likely working for its Italian rider Enrico Gasparotto. Meanwhile, it was also a point of the race where some riders started pulling off to the side of the road to either call it a day or to call it the end of a long season.

Roth, who struggled on the climb during the breakaway but made his contributions to their overall effort on the flats, yo-yo'd on and off the back until finally falling off pace for good with three laps to go. It wasn’t long before Jeannesson was also dropped. Polanc and Vervaeke continued to sprint one another for the mountain classification points at the top. In the end, it was Vervaeke who secured the special award.

Ag2r-La Mondiale’s Jean-Christophe Peraud, who was second at the Tour de France, made a brief appearance at the front of the main field, towing the riders over Mont Royal for the second to last time. He was joined by Meier and teammate Simon Yates, along with several riders from BMC in keeping the pace high.

Sensing the peloton was just over a minute behind, Polanc made one last move to try and stay away for a little longer, leaving Vervaeke behind. He crossed through the start-finish line with one lap to go, after being off the front for more than 190km, with less than 50 seconds on a field that was determined to close down the gap and restart the battle for the day’s win.

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