Wellens wins rain-soaked Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal
Lotto Soudal rider beats Adam Yates in two-up sprint
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.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 5:20:09 |
2 | Adam Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge | |
3 | Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida | 0:00:02 |
4 | Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:00:04 |
5 | Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
6 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | 0:00:05 |
7 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
8 | Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | 0:00:09 |
9 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team | |
10 | Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
11 | Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
12 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
13 | Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
14 | Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
15 | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:00:12 |
16 | Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge | |
17 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing | |
18 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
19 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | |
20 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal | 0:00:15 |
21 | Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team | |
22 | Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team | |
23 | Michael Woods (Can) Canada | |
24 | Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team | |
25 | Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
26 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:00:19 |
27 | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:00:39 |
28 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | 0:01:06 |
29 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha | |
30 | Paul Voss (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 | 0:01:18 |
31 | Lachlan Norris (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
32 | Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
33 | Michael Valgren (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
34 | José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
35 | Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
36 | Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
37 | Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 0:01:21 |
38 | Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Argon 18 | 0:01:31 |
39 | Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team | |
40 | Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Argon 18 | |
41 | Ryan Anderson (Can) Canada | |
42 | Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Team Katusha | |
43 | Adam Phelan (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
44 | Reto Hollenstein (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
45 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:01:40 |
46 | Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Team Katusha | 0:03:22 |
47 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:04:59 |
48 | Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team | 0:06:04 |
49 | Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Soudal | 0:06:41 |
50 | Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal | |
51 | Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
52 | Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
53 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
54 | Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
55 | Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
56 | Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana Pro Team | 0:06:43 |
57 | Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling | |
58 | Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky | 0:06:46 |
59 | Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
60 | Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:06:57 |
61 | Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha | 0:08:21 |
62 | Aleksei Tcatevich (Rus) Team Katusha | |
63 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica GreenEdge | 0:08:25 |
64 | Yves Lampaert (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:08:59 |
DNF | Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
DNF | Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
DNF | Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
DNF | Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky | |
DNF | David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky | |
DNF | Danny Pate (USA) Team Sky | |
DNF | Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky | |
DNF | Nathan Earle (Aus) Team Sky | |
DNF | Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Team Sky | |
DNF | Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Enrique Sanz (Spa) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
DNF | Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
DNF | Matti Breschel (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
DNF | Bruno Pires (Por) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
DNF | Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
DNF | Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
DNF | Rein Taaramae (Est) Astana Pro Team | |
DNF | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team | |
DNF | Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
DNF | Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
DNF | Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team | |
DNF | Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Christian Meier (Can) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Sébastien Turgot (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
DNF | Chad Haga (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
DNF | Fredrik Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
DNF | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
DNF | Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
DNF | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Luka Pibernik (Slo) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Julian David Arredondo Moreno (Col) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Matthew Busche (USA) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Jesse Sergent (NZl) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Hayden Roulston (NZl) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Nathan Haas (Aus) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Edward King (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Barry Markus (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Jonathan Fumeaux (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Marcel Wyss (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Yohann Gene (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Bryan Naulleau (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Angelo Tulik (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 | |
DNF | Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon 18 | |
DNF | Dominik Nerz (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 | |
DNF | Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 | |
DNF | Scott Thwaites (GBr) Bora-Argon 18 | |
DNF | William Clarke (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
DNF | Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
DNF | Travis Meyer (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
DNF | Samuel Spokes (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
DNF | Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
DNF | Wouter Wippert (Ned) Drapac Professional Cycling | |
DNF | Guillaume Boivin (Can) Canada | |
DNF | Rob Britton (Can) Canada | |
DNF | Alexander Cataford (Can) Canada | |
DNF | Adam De Vos (Can) Canada | |
DNF | Benjamin Perry (Can) Canada | |
DNF | Ryan Roth (Can) Canada |
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