Tour de Beauce: Boivin wins Saint-Georges criterium

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Guillaume Boivin (Optum) took a popular local win in front of family and friends during the evening criterium on stage 3B of the Tour de Beauce, while Toms Skujins (Hincapie Racing) retained the overall lead.

The criterium, held in downtown St-Georges, is an institution at the race but has not been on the course for a few years because the format does not meet the criteria of a UCI stage race. However, for this 30th anniversary of the Tour de Beauce, the organizers were given permission to include it.

The four-corner, 1.5km circuit features a long finishing straight followed by a short, steep climb to the backside long straight and then a fast descent to the finishing road.

Boivin was aggressive from the gun trying to get a break going, and within seven laps he was clear with Matteo Dal-Cin (Silber) and Jack Bobridge (Budget Forklifts). A couple of laps later Angus Morton (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) bridged across and the break was set.

Hincapie and Caja Rural were content to let it go and just set tempo at the front of the pack. The gap stretched out to 40 seconds with 10 laps to go, but then started to shrink and was only 13 seconds by the finish.

The lead group worked well together right to the end. Bobridge led through the final corner and Boivin had to come around him to win by less than a quarter of a wheel at the line. Dal-Cin took third.

"I thought Hincapie would let a break ago," Boivin explained. "So I tried really hard in the first laps. If it hadn't happened within 10 laps then I was just going to back off and wait for the field sprint. Bobridge was really strong, and I had to come by him on the outside, around the curve to the finish, and I wasn't sure until the end I was going to make it. I was very motivated, because my family was here and I wanted to perform well."

The criterium had no impact on the General Classification, with Skujins leading Bilbao by 10 seconds, Txurruka by 13, Dion Smith (Hincapie) by 17 seconds and Roth by 22 seconds. Smith keeps the Best Young Rider Jersey but loses the Points Jersey to Eduard Prades (Caja Rural) after the criterium.

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