GP de Quebec: Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) celebrates his first WorldTour win(Image credit: Getty Images)
GP de Quebec: Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) had time to celebrate after his first WorldTour win(Image credit: Getty Images)
GP de Quebec: Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) had time to celebrate after his first WorldTour win(Image credit: Getty Images)
Simone Velasco (Astana) and Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) had words after the sprint(Image credit: Getty Images)
Simone Velasco (Astana) and Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) had words after the sprint(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The 12th edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec(Image credit: Getty Images)
The breakaway during the 12th edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec(Image credit: Getty Images)
The 12th edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec(Image credit: Getty Images)
The 12th edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mathias Vacek, Mauri Vansevenant, David Lozano and Gianmarco Garofoli in the breakaway(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mathias Vacek, Mauri Vansevenant, David Lozano and Gianmarco Garofoli in the breakaway(Image credit: Getty Images)
Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) staged a massive coup to take out his first WorldTour victory in the Grand Prix Cycliste Québec, coming from behind in the long, uphill sprint and passing Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech).
Strong opened up the sprint and looked set to hold off Alex Aranburu (Movistar) but timed to too soon and De Lie was able to power past, relegating the Kiwi to second.
Two-time winner Michael Matthews couldn't get through and had to settle for third ahead of the fading Aranburu.
The 21-year-old has been the cornerstone of Lotto Dstny's win column, tallying 17 since he joined the team as a neo-pro last year but had never scored at the WorldTour level until now.
De Lie delivered in signature style, deploying his powerful jump after patiently waiting for the perfect moment - the result of careful study of past races here.
"I wanted to save my energy - I've watched a lot of the older editions and I knew that you had to wait for a long, long time. I had two teammates but I wanted to try and get the speed from behind," De Lie said.
"I think the team worked perfectly today, it's a really good victory. Taking the Grand Prix de Quebec is fantastic. I remember watching it when I was eight years old in 2010 and it's amazing to be able to win it myself. It's lovely to have it on my palmares."
How it unfolded
When the peloton assembled at the start along Québec's Grande Allée, the loudest cheers were reserved for the home contingent, among them Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech), who completed a journey on Friday by making his first appearance in the Canadian WorldTour races.
As a twelve-year-old, Gee was part of a group of enthusiasts who cycled the 200 or so kilometres from Ottawa to Montreal for the inaugural event in 2010. This year, the breakout star of the Giro d'Italia was one of the marquee names on show.
Québec had been toasted gently by early Autumn sunshine all week, but menacing clouds greeted the peloton on Friday morning, and the threat of rain added an additional layer of difficulty to the 12.6km urban circuit, which featured the short and sharp climbs of the Côte de la Montagne and Côte des Glacis ahead of the long drag to the line on the Grande Allée.
There was an immediate flurry of attacks when the flag dropped, but the race would settle into a pattern by the end of the first lap, with Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep), Gianmarco Garofoli (Astana-Qazaqstan), David Lozano (Novo Nordisk) and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) forging clear.
The quartet would build a maximum lead of four minutes or so before the peloton, with Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, Tudor and Jayco-Alula all prominent in leading the chase. As the laps ticked down, the break's lead gradually began to wither as the speed and the succession of climbing exacted a toll.
Five laps from home, with a shade over 60km to race, the break's lead was down to 1:25 and the first drops of rain began to fall gently over Québec. That in turn seemed only to add to the urgency of the bunch. A lap later, the gap was just 40 seconds, while a crash as the race came through the start-finish area saw several riders eliminated from contention, including Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ).
The escapees were eventually reeled in with 43km to go, and the subsequent ascent of the Côte des Glacis would see the first selection take place in the main peloton, with a number of riders shaken loose by the uptick in speed at the front, with Fausto Masnada (Soudal-QuickStep) driving the pace.
Lotto-Dstny looked to take a controlling interest at the head of the bunch with three laps to go on behalf of Arnaud De Lie, while Soudal-QuickStep were again to the fore when the road climbed in a bid to shake the Belgian and his fellow fast finishers loose.
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) lined things out still further with a long, long stint of pace-making setting the tone for an attritional penultimate lap, where the soaring speed discouraged attacks while continuing to whittle down the peloton still further.
Not for the first time, the GP de Québec was proving to be an elimination race, but the afternoon would ignite on the penultimate time up the Côte des Glacis, where Irish champion Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) launched a searing attack that only twenty or so riders could initially follow. The group doubled in size on the descent, with fast men including Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula) remaining firmly in the mix as the reduced front group took the bell for the final lap.
Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
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