Simon Gerrans wins the GPC de Quebec

Simon Gerrans (Austraila/Orica-GreenEdge) timed his final sprint to beat out Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC Racing Team) to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec. The two broke away from the pack near the end of the climb up the Cote de la Montagne. They worked well together to keep a chasing Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Liquigas Cannondale) at bay. The Slovak rider put in a strong solo effort in final few kilometres of the race, and seemed on the verge of catching the leading pair. But, when the two kicked for the finish, Sagan was dropped. Rui Faria da Costa (Portugal/Movistar), who won last year’s GPC de Montreal, finished third.

Canada’s top rider was Francois Parisien (SpiderTech powered by C10). His finish is particularly notable considering he crashed near the beginning of the 201.6-km race. The event contained 17 other Canadians, many of whom did much to animate the race. The main breakaway of the day, which swelled to eight riders at its largest, contained Hugo Houle (SpiderTech) and Marsh Cooper, who races for Optum-Kelly Benefits but was part of the Canadian National Team. They were joined by Houle’s teammate Lucas Euser (U.S.). Both Marsh and Euser fought for KOM points as they went over the 12.6-km ciruit’s climbs.

After the main break had been caught, Bruno Langlois (Canadian National Team) broke free and was joined by Chris Anker Sørensen (Denmark/Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) with roughly 30 km left in the race. Langlois stayed away until the last lap and Anker Sørensen wasn’t caught until the base of the Cote de la Montagne. Langlois’s riding, however, secured him the king-of-the-mountain award.

The favoured Canadian and this year’s Giro d’Italia winner, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), did not match his strong fourth place finish from the GPC de Quebec two years ago. Other favourites seemed to struggle as well. Edvald Boasson Hagen spent much of the day yo-yoing off the back of the pack until he finally left the course and headed into the Chateau Frontenac. Thomas Voeckler (France/Europcar) wasn’t able to match his 2010 GPC de Quebec victory and came in seventh.

The stand-out move of the race was Van Avermaet and Gerrans’s attacks on the Cote de la Montagne.

“I certainly stayed quiet for most of the race and gave it everything in the last five kilometers ,” Gerrans said.  “We held the peloton off so I’m obviously very happy. It’s fantastic. It’s one of the hardest races in the calendar.”

This victory adds to his overall win at the Tour Down Under in January and Milan-San Remo in March.