Matthews wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec

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Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) came out on top in a nail-biting finish to the 2019 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. The Australian won via a convincing sprint over Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Greg Van Avermaet (Team CCC), but the race was anything but a formality after Sagan and Van Avermaet were part of a dangerous move that was caught with less than 500m to go.

Matthews, who came into the race as the defending champion, hit out with just under 200m to go, passing the late break before the line and celebrating in style to cement his place as a genuine contender for the UCI Road World Championships later this month.

The race looked to be swinging away from Matthews in the closing stages when Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) attacked with just over 2km to go on the final climb of the race. The Frenchman drew an immediate reaction from Sagan, Van Avermaet and two other riders, and despite a slim margin it looked as though the group would decide the race.

However, AG2R La Mondiale and several other teams combined to nullify the attack and they were brought back with less than 1km to go, despite a late acceleration from Sagan.

The former World Champion had enough in the tank to sprint with the line in sight, but it was Matthews and his fresher legs who came out on top.

"I’m not exactly sure how I did that,” Matthews said. "I made a big mistake at the bottom of the climb. I wasn’t in a good enough position and when all the big favourites went I wasn’t in the position to go with them. I’m angry with myself about that but they came back and I had the legs for the sprint. It’s a win but I also made a big mistake in the final.

“I was really kicking myself in the final that I wasn’t with the best guys going over the climbs. I’m just lucky that they looked at each other in the final straight. Another reason I dug so deep was because the team rode all day. They rode amazing. I’m just happy that I could finish it off.

Matthews not only added another line to his palmares, he also helped himself to a big boost of confidence before the World Championships in Yorkshire.

"The field is maybe a bit better this year," he said of the peloton n Quebec. "That’s a massive motivation going into the Worlds. We’ve got Alaphilippe here and Sagan. We’ve the best riders in the world here. The season hasn’t gone great for me, so it’s nice to show the Aussies that I’m ready and that I’m ready to fight for them."

How it unfolded

Organisers of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec stayed true to their traditional 200km route for the 10th edition of the event. The WorldTour peloton completed 16 laps of a 12.6km circuit that starts and finishes on the Grande Allée inside the stone walls of old Quebec City.

The race wound down through the Parc des Champs de Bataille and shot out onto the Boulevard Champlain stretched out along the edge of the Saint Lawrence river. The peloton raced several short but steep climbs, first on the Côte de la Potasse, skirting around the iconic Chateau Frontenac, and then up the Montée de la Fabrique before looping around toward the uphill drag to the finish line.

What also stayed true to the tradition of the race was an early-breakaway that settled into what would be a day-long effort. The six riders that emerged in the opening lap included Canadian national teammates Evan Burtnik and Adam Roberge, Luis Mas (Movistar), Guy Sagiv (Israel Cycling Academy), Gavin Mannion (Rally UHC) and Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo).

At the start of the third lap, the men pushed their lead out to five minutes and then out to seven minutes by the end of the fifth lap. CCC team, at first, did the bulk of the pace-setting to keep the gap at a manageable distance. If the event’s 10-year history repeated itself then this early breakaway would not succeed to the finish line.

Burtnik picked up full points on the first seven KOMs. Everything looked to be running smoothly and according to plan for the Canadian team but ill-luck struck when Roberge crashed out of the breakaway.

The gap began to fall just after the halfway point. Three-time runner-up Greg Van Avermaet (CCC), and former winners Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) sent teammates to the front moved to shut down the breakaway before the closing laps.

Burtnik continued to pick up KOM points until the breakaway began to dissolve, holding less than two minutes with roughly four laps to go, and splitting apart along the undulating circuit.

Mannion and Mas carried on out front as their breakaway companions were reabsorbed into the chasing field with three laps to go. However, both were caught and then dropped as Team Ineos and Sunweb led the charging peloton into the final two laps.

As the peloton snaked its way along the Boulevard Champlain and up the Côte de la Potasse, Lotto Soudal’s Stefan Dewulf launched a solo attack, but it was short-lived and an intact peloton rounded back on to the Grande Allèe for the bell lap.