September 7/18 16:52 pm - Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec: Matthews Wins First One-Day WorldTour Race

Posted by Editoress on 09/7/18
 

Twice on the podium in the past, Australia's Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) avenged a disappointing season with a win in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec WorldTour race on Friday.

Forced out of the Tour de France, hampered by saddle problems and not selected by his team for the world championships in Innsbruck next month, Matthews set the record straight by outsprinting two Belgians - Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek - Segafredo) on the Grande Allée finish line.

Second in 2015 and third a year ago, Matthews had made the two Canadian UCI WorldTour races his major goals of the end of the season and he delivered, in blistering fashion, to clinch his first one-day race at WorldTour level.

The result is especially disappointing for Olympic champion Van Avermaet, who now finished runner-up in Québec City for the fourth time.

Two riders did not start - Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) and Cort Magnus Nielsen (Astana Pro Team), who pulled out with stomach problems.

After two kilometres, five riders broke clear, including three Canadians. The break consisted of Guy Sagiv (Israel Cycling Academy), Bruno Langlois (Team Canada), Nicolas Dougall (Team Dimension Data), Alexander Cataford (Team Canada) and Robert Britton (Rally Cycling Team). As the peloton, led by BMC Racing, did not chase, the lead quickly grew to reach a maximum of 6:30 after three laps. Alex Cataford took advantage of the breakaway to collect the KOM points on Cote des Glacis for 13 laps.

Back in the peloton, Portugal's Nuno Bico (Movistar Team) hit a stray dog who came running into the peloton in the seventh lap. With five laps to go, Spain's Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy) was also forced out of the race after a crash at the back of the main pack.

With four laps and 50 km to go, the gap between the five escapees and the main pack had shrunk to 3:40 as BMC upped the tempo and Astana Pro Team moved to take charge at the front bunch. In the last two laps, only Rob Britton and Bruno Langlois were left of the original breakaway group, and they were joined by Peter Kennaugh (Bora-Hansgrohe), who attacked on his own with one lap to go, as the remnants of the break were scooped up. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Nathan Earle (Israel Cycling Academy), Robin Carpenter (Rally Cycling Team), Nathan Brown (EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale) and Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale) chased behind Kennaugh for a while before being reeled in. Kennaugh, aiming to emulate team leader Peter Sagan, winner of the last two editions, held on until the final 500 metres before the line, as peloton wound up for the final sprint.  Matthews was the quickest and held Van Avermaet at bay until the line, forcing him to settle for second once again.

"This is my first win in a classic," said Matthews. "I've had wins on each of the Grand Tours and I won the green jersey on the Tour de France. But I had never won a one-day race at WorldTour level and I'm especially happy it took place in Quebec, as I love coming here every year. That's the thing I thought about when I crossed the line:  ' I'm the second Australian to win here after Simon Gerrans'. He was one of my idols in cycling. It was one of my team's goals today to race here the way he did in 2014, and I was capable to do that. He won't be here next year unfortunately."

A visibly disappointed Van Avermaet, said, "I was twice second behind Peter Sagan, now I'm behind Michael Matthews. I'm on the podium again. That's something. It's a good result for me too. I launched the sprint with 200 metres to go. I like to do long sprints, but Michael was really strong. I was behind him and I could not do any better. But I'm glad with my form and I hope to do better in Montréal."

KoM winner: Peter Kennaugh (BORA - hansgrohe)

Top Canadian: Guillaume Boivin (Israel Cycling Academy(

Results from the first race of the 2018 GPCQM, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, in Quebec City