Gallery: Blais and Cartier victorious in second edition of Critérium National
Exciting racing on the Mont-Royal circuit with the same finish as the WorldTour race on Sunday
The women's race was aggressive but it would all come down to a bunch sprint
Marie-Soleil Blais takes the win on Parc Avenue in the 2016 Critérium National de Montréal.
Léandre Bouchard represented Canada in the Olympic mountain bike race in Rio finishing 27th and lined up for the Criterium National
The race got underway on the same start line as the WorldTour riders will line-up on for the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal
The riders stretched out on the drag up to the finish line
Alexis Cartier puts in a dig with a lap to go setting himself up for the solo win
Alexis Cartier finished second on a stage in the Tour of Alberta but on Avenue Parc he took the win
Claude Binchet (CC de l'Académie) took the win in the maitre homme category.
Ann-Pascale Ouellet (Dynamiks de Contrevoeur) was the top junior women in the race
Quebec road champion Marie-Soleil Blais (Happy Took Pro Cycling) took the win. Emily Flynn of the Cyclery-Opus was second with Raphaele Lemieux (iBike) in third.
Alexis Cartier took the win as his teammate Michael Rice crossed the line in second making it a one-two for Garneau-Quebecor. Samuel Blanchette was third.
Marie-Soleil Blais (Happy Tooth Pro Cycling) sprinted to a convincing victory in the second edition of the Critérium National de Montreal on Parc Avenue on Saturday while in the men’s race Alexis Cartier (Garneau-Quebecor) distinguished himself with a solo win.
Earlier this month Cartier narrowly missed out on the win at the Tour of Alberta where he finished second from a breakaway on Stage 2. The native of Sainte-Adèle attacked solo from a breakaway of three on the penultimate lap on the Mont-Royal circuit. The move was enough to escape teammate Michael Rice and Samuel Blanchette. Behind the peloton, unable to cooperate sat 40-seconds back on the trio for much of the race. The win means that Garneau-Quebecor has won the first two editions of the race with Remy Pelletier-Roy taking the win in 2015.
In the women’s race, the front group was whittled down throughout a relentless race but no riders were able to escape the attentive peloton. Blais was the strongest on the day unleashing a strong sprint in the finale to win ahead of Emily Flynn and Raphaele Lemieux. The Quebec road champion took her first big professional win in Athens in May.
The afternoon got underway with the maître homme race which was won by Claude Binchet in front of Benjamin Martel and Simon Van Bellen.
