Gerrans wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal; Woods 26th
On Sunday, Simon Gerrans (Orica-Green Edge) won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal. In second was current world road race champion, Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) followed by Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol) who finished third. The top placed Canadian in the lead group was Michael Woods (Team Canada) in 26th, a mere seven seconds behind Gerrans. Simon Gerrans is the first rider to win both WorldTour races in Quebec and Montreal in the same year.
Sunday’s race in Montreal featured a day-long break away of four riders. Ryan Roth (Team Canada) was the sole Canadian in the group, which included Louis Vervaeke (Lotto-Belisol), Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida) and Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ). The break built a lead in access of 10 minutes before the earnest chase really began. Eventually the race’s major teams began to act and at first there was little change as the gap remained the same. Eventually Movistar lifted the pace which forced a dangerous looking split in the main field. Canadian Christian Meier (Orica-Green Edge) with his teammate Matthew Hayman worked with other teams to bring everything back together in the main field. It required a big effort and it proved crucial for Meier’s team leader Simon Gerrans.
As the chase continued, team Astana became more prevalent at the head of affairs. The time-gap to the main break slowly began to dwindle. The pace went from a simmer to a boil when Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R-La Mondiale) accelerated over the top of Mount Royal on the second last lap. Meier shut down the move which effectively served to keep the pace high in the closing laps. By this point Roth and Jeannesson had been dropped from the early break-away. Vervaeke and Polanc were leaving everything out on the road in a last ditch bid to win the day. Polanc ultimately dropped Vervaeke and forged on solo until the last time up Mount Royal. Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) hit the front with one other teammate to launch Rui Costa. Once Polanc was caught, Costa surged ahead which ultimately forced the race winning split. Simon Garrans was caught out but managed to get across the gap with Gallopin and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Belisol).
This final selection more or less stayed the same and raced for the line. The lead group was clearly unsettled with the presence of Gerrans and his teammates. The riders seemed to know that Garrans’ sprint was likely the strongest. Therefore Costa attacked in the closing kilometres but was caught by Orica-Green Edge’s organized lead-out. In the final uphill kick to the line, Gerrans pulled away from the lead group to take the win well ahead of Costa and Gallopin.
Full results can be found at the GPQM.
