Norway’s Lars Petter Nordhaugh Wins Cycling Grand Prix de Montreal

Sky’s Lars Petter Nordhaug wins the Cycling Grand Prix de Montreal

Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) won the Cycling Grand Prix de Montreal. The Norwegian took advantage of a gap as riders tried to cover breaks in the last couple of kilometres of the race. Italy’s Moreno Moser (Liquigas-Cannondale) snuck in for second and Russian Alexander Kolobnev (Katusha) came in third.

Nordhaug says he was trying to help teammate Evald Boasson Hagen, but was told to go for it. He said he felt good. “It’s amazing; it’s really good riding here … to win a race like this,” said Nordhaug.

Like Nordhaug, Moser was also trying to help a teammate, Peter Sagan. However, he had the better legs at the finish and came in ahead of Sagan who ended up finishing in 12^th. This is Moser’s first season as a pro and he said he didn’t think about a result like this at the start, so he’s very happy.

Russia’s Kolobnev said he was pleased getting on the podium given the 20 or so riders who were charging to the line. He said he had to be smart because he didn’t want the same thing to happen that occurred in Quebec, where he placed fourth. Kolobnev says he’s still having some trouble with his legs after having surgery so his performances in both the Quebec and Montreal races are good steps toward regaining his form.

The weather was cool as the riders began the 205.7 km circuit course in Montreal. New Zealander George Bennett (RadioShack-Nissan) launched an attack on the first lap of the race. He was joined by Sebastien Turgot (Europcar). However, the peleton quickly reigned in the two riders before the first lap finished.

Another four riders then got away from the peleton. They included Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) and Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Ryan Roth (SpiderTech). They were eventually caught by a large group of about 20 riders. But by the 26 km mark, that large group was also caught. Shortly after, however, the peleton split again.

The most durable break got started with a move by Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) who kept up his aggressiveness. Two other riders eventually bridged over to the Italian, Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Eusakadi).

Four other riders tried to bridge to the lead group. They included Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil), Anthony Charteau (Europcar) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha). However, they were unsuccessful.

Later, two other riders also attempted to bridge to the leaders, Simone Ponzi (Astana) and Kristijan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale). The closest they managed to get was within just over 2 minutes.

The breakaway riders worked effectively, opening a gap that grew to over 8 minutes. But as Canadian Cycling Magazine’s Kirsten Frattini pointed out in her live blog: “there was a four-man breakaway in this race last year that gained about 7 minutes. They were caught.” The trio would go on to hold off the peleton for more than a 140 km.

Katusha led efforts to reign in the break. BMC and Omega Pharma-Quickstep helped them. The job came to a successful end with about 20 km to go. But by that time the instigator of the successful break, Manuele Boaro had been dropped.

The last lap and a half saw an intense jockeying for position and efforts by teams to cover breaks. Seven riders managed to nudge away. They included Jose Visconti (Movistar), Michael Golas (Quickstep), Luca Paolini (Katusha), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Tim Wellens (Lotto), Anthony Geslin (FDJ) and Sebastien Minard (Ag2R). Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) also moved to join the group of escapees.

However, the effort fizzled as indecision sapped their explosiveness. And the opportunity to fix that was closing as there was only one lap to go at this point.

David Tanner (Saxo-Tinkoff) then took his shot. Canada’s David Veilleux broke from the peleton and pursued him. The crowd along the final climb erupted when they saw Veilleux surge. There was more excitement as SpiderTech moved to the front of the peleton. And even more when Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) moved to get with Veilleux and Tanner with about 10 kilometres yet to go to the finish line.

However, Evald Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-Green Edge) kept the pace high with about 20 other riders responding to reign in Tanner and Veilleux.

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) eager to make up for his missing out on the top spot in Qubec tried to make his move. Again Hesjedal moved to counter it. Van Avermaet was eventually caught. The group at the front remained large with 25 riders or so.

But with about 4 km to go, what proved to be the decisive move happened. Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) who was supporting his teammate and countryman Boasson Hagen attacked. Perhaps being more concerned with Boasson Hagen dulled the response to Nordhaug’s move and he opened a gap. A gap that he kept until the end.

After the race a reporter mentioned a comment teammate Michael Barry made about Nordhaug, about the struggle he’s had with his confidence. Tomorrow that should be a lot better.

As for Cyril Gautier, although he did not manage to hold onto the very end, he’ll leave with something for his effort as well, honours for the King of the Mountains.