Gerrans wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec

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Simon Gerrans secured Orica-GreenEdge's 100th win at the WorldTour Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on Friday. The Australian came back from an untimely late-race mechanical to win the uphill sprint along the Grande Allée ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) and Ramanus Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp).

Lampre-Merida led the race into the final climb over the circuit’s decisive Cote de la Montagne with current world champion Rui Costa in a good position. Orica-GreenEdge took over the pace setting as the race crested the climb as Costa remained in tow. Bauke Mollema (Belkin) made a move over the second and shorter climb on the course, but his move was shut down by several riders who tried to bridge across in the closing kilometers.

Lotto Belisol’s Jelle Vanendert made a strong attack and cleared the field in the last kilometer but he was soon joined by Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-QuickStep). The trio led the race into the last few hundred meters on the long and uphill straight away towards the finish line but they were caught by a swarm of sprinters left in the field.

Dumoulin started his sprint and looked to have the race locked up, however, Gerrans took a run at him from a few meters back and sprinted past him at the line, taking a commanding win. The finish was marred by a crash, with FDJ’s Arthur Vichot hitting the pavement and being taken away my medical services with a suspected broken collarbone.

“I'm really proud of this victory. It's come off the back of a long season, so I'm really pleased to be back in good form after a strong start to the season, a good spring and a difficult Tour de France. This is a really special victory. I want to say thanks to my teammates. They supported me all day: Meier by controlling all day, Jens Keukeleire went in the break and the whole team supported me in the sprint. This is a win for the collective,” he said.

"I honestly thought my race was over after having a mechanical late on but the team car was well placed and I got back on quite quickly. But I only knew I had a chance of fighting for victory in the last five kilometres when we caught the break."

“Tom started his sprint nice and early. It was a good move because there was some hesitation in group. When he went I had to go early too. I was lucky I got a gap on the guys and got passed Tom just before the line. He showed how strong he is and I'm sure he'll win a lot in the future.”

After his victory in Quebec, Gerrans is now looking forward to Sunday's Gran Prix Cycliste de Montreal. No rider has ever won both races in the same year.

“I'm sure we'll see a similar group of guys fighting out for victory,” he predicted. “The parcours is different, it's more demanding than Quebec, so it's shaping up to be a great race.”

Tom Dumoulin was disappointed to take another close second place after missing out on victory at the recent Tour of Alberta stage race in Canada. However the Dutchman was proud of his performance and to have finished second in a WorldTour race.

“When you get passed in last five metres, your first reaction is to be pissed. But maybe tomorrow I'll look back with a positive feeling,” he said. “I've had a lot of second places this year and last year. Alberta was more disappointing and I also lost in the last five metres but this the first time I've got a result in a Classic, with the best riders in action. I'm really happy about that.”

“I knew it was really early to go but I had (teammate) Geschke on my wheel and no time to discuss anymore. Either he let a gap go for me in the headwind or he had to go with me and I lead out for him. I had to go, I had no other choice and so I've no regrets. It was a shame I got second on the line but that's racing.”

Navardauskas also had no regrets about finishing third after being in the late breakaway.

“I was feeling tired after the Tour de France and took some time off. But after riding the Tour of Alberta, I've been feeling better. I was happy to race today and had good form and good legs. I was in break and felt good, so tried my best. I'm happy to take third,” he explained.

How it happened

The Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec City is the first of two WorldTour events held in the Canadian province of Quebec, with the second held on Sunday in Montreal. Riders faced 11 laps of an 18.1km course for a total of 199.1km on a challenging course with two decisive climbs, the first over the Cote de la Montagne, after 14km, and the smaller ascent on the Cote de la Potasse located 16.2km into the lap.

The riders lined up on the Grande Allée, heading out on a gentle descent through Les Plaines d’Abraham park and back up to the Grande Allée Ouest. The riders dropped down to the Rue Champlain and raced along the St. Lawrence river before making a turn back up through the port of the walls of old Quebec City and up the first climb.

The first attack came from the first kilometer, when Belkin's Dennis Van Winden got away. He was joined on the lap by Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida), Moreno Moser (Cannondale) and Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar) creating the four-man group that would stay clear for the next eight laps.

The short but steep Cote de la Montagne was expected to cause the field to dwindle on each lap. The four escapees took advantage of the second climb on course over the Cote de la Potasse and back up through the start-finish to build a large lead.

The quartet built a maximum gap of nine minutes with in the first 34km and worked well together for the following 60km but it wasn't enough to hold off a chasing field led almost entirely by Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) and Peter Stetina (BMC Racing).

Van Winden picked up the majority of the mountain points each lap over the Cote de la Montagne, but was challenged by Arashiro as the peloton closed in on them with 70km to go.

The breakaway lost its organization over the climb at the 120km mark when Van Winden and Arashiro went clear while battling for mountain points, and although Moser and Polanc regained contact on the short descent that followed, their lead had been diminished to two minutes

On the next lap, the peloton had whittled down the gap to mere seconds, and the breakaway was finally doomed to end over the Cote de la Montagne with three laps to go.

Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar) then tried to jump clear of the field, but his efforts were short-lived and the field was back together along the Rue Champlain heading toward the circuit’s main ascent. The pace of the field quickened in the closing laps and it wasn't long before riders started falling off the back.

Eleven riders Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida), Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Nicki Sorensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Jonathan Hivert (Belkin), Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEdge), Ramanus Navardauskas and Steele von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp), Kevin Reza (Team Europcar) and Michael Woods (Canada) got a gap on the peloton on the penultimate lap, gaining half a minute on the field.

Meanwhile, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge), who won the 2012 edition, was interrupted by an untimely mechanical with just over a lap to go, but a quick bike change from his team car got him back underway.

Jan Bakelants and Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) along with Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol and Enrico Gassparotto (Astana) bridged across to the move, but now with 15 riders, the break was too big to stay away, and they were reabsorbed into the field before the final climb over the Cote de la Montagne with six kilometers to go.

Attacks flew as the line approached, but patience and timing were key to victory, and Gerrans had both - Dumoulin jumped too early and the Australian champion surged past to snatch the victory from the young Dutchman's grasp with just five meters to the line.

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