September 11/11 18:57 pm - GP Cycliste de Montreal: Report, Full Results and photos

Posted by Editoress on 09/11/11
 

Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Movistar) took the first World Tour victory of his career at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on Sunday after a 206 kilometre race of attrition.  Costa outkicked breakaway companion Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ), with World Tour number one Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) following up his win in Quebec City with third place in Montreal.

Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Movistar Team) wins  Link to more photos at bottom of page

The GP Cycliste de Montreal doesn't offer the scenic and historic backdrops of Quebec, but it makes up for it with its history as punishing circuit, dating back to the world championships in 1974, when Eddy Merckx outdueled Raymond Poulidor.  Since then, this course, dominated by the two kilometre climb up Mont Royal, has played host to the Olympics and multiple World Cups.

The 12.1 kilometre circuit heads up the Camillien-Houde climb, followed by an immediate descent into city streets.  Riders then tackle the second climb of the circuit, the short, steep Ecole Polytechnique ascent, followed by a tight, sharp descent and a right onto a section of straight road with the feedzone.  After curving around the base of Mont Royal, the riders hit the divided Avenue du Parc, heading down one side past the finish line and making a 180 degree turn to face the final slightly uphill 500 metres to the finish line.  They cover the course 17 times, for nearly 4000 metres of elevation gain.

The action started almost instantly, with Ben King (RadioShack) attacking before the base of the climb.  This tactic garnered him the U.S. national road title last year, but this year he was chased down almost immediately, and a series of attacks and counterattacks were launched through the lap, splitting the field as the peloton hit the climb for the second time.

Seventy riders made the front split, with the gap growing to 30 seconds as they started lap three.  Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad) then launched the most serious attack of the race thus far, gaining 30 seconds.  He kept looking over his shoulder, hoping others would join his effort, but it took a lap before three riders bridged up - Anthony Geslin (FDJ), Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) and Danilo Di Luca (Katusha).  Canadian national champion Svein Tuft (SpiderTech) tried to bridge, but crashed in the 180 degree corner at the end of lap four - he suffered abrasions to his hip and arm, but kept riding.

Lap four also saw Gilbert suffer mechanical problems, throwing his bike down while he waited for a replacement.  Significantly, no team mates waited for him; possibly due to his statement after winning the Quebec race: that he had a weak team and had no help during his winning ride.  Gilbert has also announced that he is leaving the team to join BMC next season.  He crashed a lap later, and this time was paced back to the peloton by his team mates.

Once the lead group had formed, the peloton slowed considerably, with both halves joining up again, and the gap shooting up to nearly seven minutes by lap seven.  Team Sky decided this was too much, and upped the tempo in the bunch, bringing the gap down steadily, to under four minutes at the halfway mark.  By lap 13 (five to go), the gap was under three minutes, and Rabobank was contributing to chase, as was Garmin-Cervelo.

Two laps later, the peloton was considerably diminished and the break was within their sights on the climb, only 23 seconds ahead.  Juan Flecha (Sky), Danilo Wyss (BMC) and Jerome Pineau (Quick Step) were about to catch the frontrunners.  Pate attacked solo, managing to stay out long enough to grab a few more Climber points and lock up that title.

As Pate was caught, with two and a half laps to go, a group of 15 broke away, including Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo), Michael Barry (Sky), Pate, Gregory Rast (RadioShack), Costa, Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R), Tuft and David Veilleux (Europcar).  This group was much too dangerous, and both Gilbert and defending Montreal champion Robert Gesink (Rabobank) launched attacks off the front of the peloton.  Barry attacked hard at the front to keep the break going, dropping Tuft and Veilleux in the process, but the peloton was reeling them in as the last lap began, and they were caught early on the climb.

Sky immediately launched a counterattack with Simon Gerrans and Rigoberto Uran, followed by Christian VandeVelde (Garmin-Cervelo).  They were caught over the top of the climb, and Costa managed to get away before the Polytechnique climb with Fedrigo and Stefan Denifl (Leopard-Trek).  The gap was less than ten seconds, but Gesink could not close it, despite having Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) with him.  When Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) attacked them, neither responded, waiting for the other to go, and this sealed the win for Costa, as the gap stretched to 16 seconds while the chasers played a dangerous game of chicken.

The bunch finally got themselves organized, but it was too late.  Costa and Fedrigo managed to stay two seconds clear of the front of the field, with Gilbert leading the bunch across the line for third.

Costa, completing possibly the best season of his career, commented:  "Obviously, winning [stage 8] at the Tour de France is the highlight of my career, but this is pretty close.  I was not too worried when we came down the climb with a 15 second lead.  I were pretty confident, and never looked back.  Once the red flag was past, the only thing on my mind was to win.  I knew Fedrigo had to be beaten, but I just went for it."

Gilbert, one of the favourites after winning Quebec and the World Tour for 2011, professed himself completely satisfied with third.  "Honestly, it's a superb result.  I crashed, and I was really scared, I thought maybe it was over for the world championships.  But I managed to get back on the bike, and I was feeling better and better.  In the final lap lots of teams worked hard to bring us back, and I'm always at my best when the pace is high.  At 500 metres it was probably my longest sprint of the season, and there was nothing else I could do.  It's a good result."

Hesjedal was the top Canadian finisher in 11th.  We have interviews with Ryder Hesjedal, Svein Tuft and Francois Parisien to go up shortly.

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