Wellens wins rain-soaked Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal

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Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) won a rain-soaked Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on Sunday, taking the victory from a two-up sprint against his late-race breakaway companion Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge). Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) won the chase-group sprint for third place.

"I think my [overall] win at the Eneco Tour was nicer, but I won in a sprint and it was a nice feeling to win in a sprint. This was a WorldTour race here so it is very important," Wellens said. "The win at the Eneco Tour was a little bit nicer but I'm very happy with this victory."

Yates and Wellens attacked on the final decisive climb over Mont Royal and held off a chase group that included Costa, Jan Bakelants and Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo). The pair rounded the final U-turn and tested one another in the final 400 metres to see who would jump first, almost getting caught by the chasers. In the end, it was Wellens who sprinted to the line with the victory, leaving Yates in second place.

"Wellens was super strong, and all they way in toward the finish he was doing the most work and giving the biggest turns," Yates said. "He wasn't just the strongest at the finish but also from the top of the last climb. I'm happy with second and I'll come back next year to try and do one better."

How it unfolded

At the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, racers started on the wide-open Avenue du Parc before climbing up Mont Royal along the Cote de Camillien-Houde. They faced a smaller climb over the Cote de la Polytechnique half way around the 12.1km circuit. And one of the key factors in the final was the U-turn along the Avenue du Parc, which racers descended into and then climbed out of along the 400-metre uphill drag to the finish line. The race was 17 laps for a total of 205km.

Unlike the warm and sunny conditions at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec City two days earlier, won by Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep), the peloton lined up under rain and negotiated slick city streets in Montreal.

Several large breakaways formed early in the race but it settled into a group of six riders with Silvan Dillier (BMC), Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Michael Valgren (Tinkoff-Saxo), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep), Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), Michael Albasini (Orica) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana). A chase group bridged across with Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Jose Herrada (Movistar), Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida).

Kwiatkowski pushed the pace on the climb over Mont Royal and opened a gap on his breakaway companions, which resulted in the world champion continuing on in a brief solo move before regrouping with the main field at the start of the next lap.

The most decisive breakaway of the day set off with 80km to go, ignited by Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), who was later joined by Louis Vervaeke (Lotto Soudal) and Manuel Quinziato (BMC).  Christopher Juul Jensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Andriy Grivko (Astana) later bridge across to the three leaders and they built an advantage of two minutes with four laps to go. Juul Jensen was later brought back into the field.

Orica-GreenEdge sent six riders to the fore of the peloton to set the pace for Michael Matthews, while the Yates brothers, Adam and Simon, sat toward the back of the small field.

Although the rain had somewhat subsided half way through the race, it poured over the riders with three laps to go, causing large flowing streams of water on the course.

The four breakaway riders lost time to the field as Orica-GreenEdge drove the pace with 24km remaining (two laps), and they struggled to hold on to half a minute over Mont Royal. Vervaeke and Voeckler continued on, later joined by Michael Valgren (Tinkoff-Saxo), but the trio only held 15 seconds on the bunch as they raced through the start-finish area with one lap to go, as Etixx-QuickStep moved their riders to the front for Uran.

On the last climb up Mont Royal, the pack was all together and led by Kwiatkowski. Yates attacked over the climb but he only managed to gain a few seconds before he was joined by Wellens. Four riders formed a chase group with Bakelants, Bardet, Costa and Kelderman 12 seconds back with under three kilometres to go, and an additional eight seconds to the main field.

Wellens led Yates into the final U-turn and the pair played a nail-biting game of cat and mouse during the final 400 metres, nearly getting caught by the chase group at the finish line. Wellens ended up winning the sprint to the line for the victory, forcing Yates to settle for second.

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