Gregory Daniels wins final stage and overall at 2016 Tour de Beauce, Houle second

The riders race through the streets of Quebec City on Stage 4. Photo Credit: Corporation du Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce/Brian Black Hodes

Gregory Daniels on Stage 4 with Hugo Houle glued to his wheel. Photo Credit: Corporation du Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce/Brian Black Hodes

Photo Credit: Corporation du Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce/Brian Black Hodes

Mihkel Raim celebrates his Stage 4 victory. Photo Credit: Corporation du Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce/Brian Black Hodes

Mihkel Raim (Cycling Academy) wins Stage 4 ahead of Pierrick Naud (Rally) and Ben Perry (Silber). Photo Credit: Corporation du Grand Prix cycliste de Beauce/Brian Black Hodes

American national road champion Gregory Daniels (Axeon Hagens Berman) sealed the overall victory at the 31st edition of the Tour de Beauce with a win on Stage 5. Sprinting to victory ahead of Hugo Houle (Team Canada), the 21-year-old capped off an exciting five days of racing on the races 122-km final stage in Saint-Georges.

Daniels, who took the race lead on the race’s second stage to Mont-Mégantic, had his Axeon teammates at the front for much of the race’s final stages as they defended his 16-second lead over Houle who would finish second overall. Robin Carpenter (Holowensko-Citadel) took third place overall after a strong performance on the Stage 3a individual time trial where he was edged out for the stage win by Neilson Powless (Axeon Hagens Berman)

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The final stage unfolded with a strong breakaway composed of Ryan Anderson (Team Canada), Rob Britton (Rally), Alexis Cartier (Garneau-Quebecor), Matteo Dal-Cin (Silber), Thomas Vaurbourzeix (Lupus) and Jordan Cheyne (Jelly Belly) getting a maximum advantage of 2-minutes. Axeon went to work at the front of the peloton and the gap began to come down. The fast pace saw many riders fall off pace and with two laps to go the break was brought back but only a group of 25 riders remained. Repeated surges by Houle reduced the front group even further and by the race’s final lap Daniels and Hugo both were left without teammates. The reduced bunch sprint pitted the two top riders against one another with Daniels coming out victorious with a powerful sprint.

The day before, Mihkel Raim (Cycling Academy) took the Stage 4 criterium in Quebec City ahead of Pierrick Naud (Rally) and Ben Perry (Silber). Raim had a strong week of racing also taking the race’s first stage from the breakaway. Daniels took second on Stage 1, Houle finished 1:16 back in the peloton. Houle took back time on Daniels with a third place in the 19-km individual time trial, but it wasn’t enough for the Canadian national time trial champion to move into the race lead.

Daniels earned himself the points classification, young riders classification, and overall win taking home a yellow, white and red jersey. Rob Squire (Holowesko-Citadel) took home the climbers classification. On Stage 2 he dominated the breakaway and on the races final stage he won the first KOM points on offer to ensure he would take home the jersey. His Holowensko-Citadel team took the team classification.

The Canadian national road race championships get underway on June 25 and run until June 29 culminating with the naming of the athletes who will represent Canada at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Stage 5: St Georges Circuit, 122.5 km

1 Gregory Daniel (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman , 3:06:56
2 Hugo Houle (Can) Team Canada
3 Diego Milan Jimenz (Dom) Inteja-MMR Dominican Cycling Team
4 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko / Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportwear
5 Benjamin Perry (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
6 Robert Squire (USA) Holowesko / Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportwear
7 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis, all s.t.
8 Angus Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis, 0:03
9 Daniel Turek (Cze) Cycling Academy Team
10 Christopher Horner (USA) Lupus Racing Team, both s.t.
11 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling, 0:06
12 Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis, 0:21
13 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling, 0:21
14 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
15 David Drouin (Can) Team Canada, both s.t.

Final General Classification

1 Gregory Daniel (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman
2 Hugo Houle (Can) Team Canada
3 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko / Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportwear