Peter Sagan wins GP de Quebec City

World champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) sprinted to the finish line to take the victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec City. He caught late-race attacker and defending champion Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) just metres from the finish line to take the win ahead of Olympic gold medallist Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Anthony Roux (FDJ).

"I felt like I didn't need to go full gas on the last two climbs because the end is so hard. The last kilometre was a headwind, Rigoberto tried like last year, but today it was different,” Sagan said at the finish line.

"The last kilometre was very fast after 200km. I saw Rigoberto go, and I thought maybe we would play for second place, but he slowed toward the end because it was so hard. The FDJ rider [Roux] started the sprint and I was there, OK. It was unbelievable."

After a valiant effort by Orica-BikeExchange to keep all breakaways in check for much of the 201.6km race, it was Tinkoff, Team Sky and FDJ that lead the intact field into the final decisive climb over the Rue de la Montagne with roughly four kilometres to go.

Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) forced an attack, and was quickly followed by Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) and Etixx teammate Julian Alaphilippe. Etixx had the numbers but neither of the two were strong enough to hold Moscon in line, and the Italian powered away from them to take a small lead, along with the the top-weighted KOM points to win the mountain classification with under two kilometres to go.

Uran made a familiar surprise attack, which netted him the day’s victory last year, and it looked as though he was going to repeat that success as he powered passed Canada’s iconic Chateau Frontenac with a clear gap and only 500 metres to go. But the uphill drag, which presented a headwind to boot this year, was too much for the Colombian.

He desperately tried to make it to the finish line, but the bunch sprint ensued behind.

Roux started the gallop with 200 metres to go but only succeeded in providing a spring board for both Sagan and Van Avermaet to drag race to the line. In the end, it was Sagan who proved fastest, leaving Van Avermaet in second and Roux in third.

How it happened

It has become a tradition at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec City for an all-day breakaway to be caught in the closing two laps, while the bunch sets up for a nail-biting finale, and this year’s edition proved to be another exciting one.

A decisive break set off early and included eight riders: Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Twan Castelijns (LottoNL-Jumbo), Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data), Alexandre Pichot (Direct Energie), Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18) and Nicolas Masbourain (Canada).

They worked together for two-thirds of the race, gaining a maximum of 3:30. Barta and Masbourain battled for the first sets of lower-level KOM points on offer over the Rue de la Montagne, a steep 10 per cent grade climb each lap, and it looked as though Barta had built a solid lead in the classification, if not for the more heavily weighted sets of points offered on the last two laps.

A relatively subdued field rolled along behind, largely led by the efforts of five riders: Christian Meier (Orica-BikeExchange), Laurens De Plus (Etixx-QuickStep), Manuel Senni (BMC), and Evgney Petrov and Michael Valgren Andersen (Tinkoff).

Bak made a last-ditch attack to shed his breakaway companions, but when push came to shove Orica-BikeExchange closed it down with roughly 40km to go, setting up the true race for the day’s glory over the last three laps.

Attacks came from Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) and Luke Rowe (Team Sky), and although they gained a quick 40 seconds, Orica snuffed out that move on the next climb over the Rue de la Montagne with 30km, two and half laps, to go.

A larger breakaway formed next with the likes of Fabio Aru (Astana), Rui Costa and Matej Mohoric (Lampre-Merida), Brent Bookwalter (BMC) and Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal). It looked to have the makings of a promising move if it weren’t for Lampre-Merida having two riders represented, and in the end the others weren’t willing to work together.

Mohoric tried to go alone, but he wasn’t strong enough to hold off the chasing peloton on his own and was caught by a field led by Daryl Impey (Orica-BikeExchange).

That led the way for Bora-Argon18's Paul Voss. A move that was later countered by Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling) but they, too, were reeled back in before the last climb up the Rue de la Montagne.

Tradition held true as the field made the left hand turn onto the Rue de la Montagne one last time, setting up the fireworks for the last kilometres of the race through old Quebec City.

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