Ulissi wins GP de Montreal

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Diego Ulissi (UAE Emirates) outsprinted his breakaway companions to win the GP de Montreal Sunday, crossing the line ahead of Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Drapac) for the victory.

Ulissi joined the six-man move that got away late in the race and then countered a lead out by Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) to take the win.

"Last year I was third after two great champions, Peter Sagan and Greg Van Avermaet," Ulissi said. "This year, I tried to be a little bit braver. Trying to attack earlier, trying to go for the victory, and I got it."

Ulissi was in the final move with Gallopin, Herrada, Slagter, Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) an Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) that escaped in the closing kilometres of the one-day WorldTour race. As Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) watched each other in the first chase group, Ulissi et al bore down on the finish with just a handful of seconds to spare.

Gallopin had a small gap heading tint the final 180-degree corner before the finish, and the Frenchman continued to lead the pace as the others caught his slipstream. Bakelants was first to jump off Gallopin's wheel, but the AG2R rider faded well before the line as Ulissi surged, followed by Herrda and Slagter. Bakelants finished fourth, followed by Mollema. Gallopin was sixth.

"I was really confident," Ulissi said. "After the Tour de France, my first Tour de France, I worked really hard on trying to get my condition to the max. This race was my big season goal. My teammates did a really good job, Valerio Conti and Marco Marcato, they worked really hard pulling back the breakaway. In the final, I knew I was fast in this kind of finish so I played my card and then everything worked out."

How it unfolded

Sunny, comfortable conditions greeted riders at the start of the 205.7km race.

Canadian road champion Matteo Dal-Cin, riding for the Canadian national selection, and Benjamin Perry (Israel Cycling Academy) attacked the peloton within the first 200 metres of racing to immediately form the day's first major breakaway. The pack was content to give the pair some breathing room, with the escapees working their way to a three-minute gap by the end of the first of 17, 12.1-kilometre laps on the Montreal circuit.

By the end of the second lap the advantage was up to around five minutes, with Cannondale-Drapac moving to the front to take control of the race. A move to the front by UAE Team Emirates forced a surprising early split on the demanding Côte Camillien Houde, with Van Avermaet and Matthews in the front group and Sagan finding himself on the wrong side of the gap, but the pack was back together again as the next lap got underway. The pressure from behind put inroads into the break's advantage, with the lead of Dal-Cin and Perry down cut to two minutes briefly before growing again to four after the regrouping.

The next several laps saw the gap very gradually fall with little change in the race scenario until the seventh lap, when Sagan hit the front on a tricky descent and managed to force a small gap to the pack. His cheeky move was short-lived and ultimately came to nothing, but it spelled bad news for the two off the front, spurring the pack into a higher gear.With 30 kilometres to go, the peloton caught Dal-Cin and Perry.

Team Sky's Ian Boswell was the next to jump, with Dimension Data's Natnael Berhane moving to join him. The pair linked up on the 13th lap and rode to a gap of nearly a minute. Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott) and Edward Ravasi (UAE Team Emirates) bridged, but the peloton was not far off. The move was reeled in with around 40 kilometres to go.

Ulissi's group escaped the bunch next, but the peloton was feeling stingy toward the end of the race and kept the new leaders in check just a dozen seconds behind. Sagan and Van Avermaet were waiting to pounce when the leaders were caught, but neither rider wanted to get caught out doing all the work to bring them back.

Up front, Gallopin jumped out of the small lead group with 1,500 metres to go and got a small gap, while Orica-Scott took up the chase behind. Mollema worked in the lead group to bring Gallopin back, making contact with less than 1km to go and setting up the sprint from the breakaway

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