In an unprecedented and somewhat unexpected way, a long-range attack was rewarded on Friday in the Grand Prix de Québec. Having opted to wait for the final moments, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team missed the day’s winning move, which resulted in Julian Alaphilippe crossing the line first. Valentin Madouas finished in a reduced peloton, seventeen seconds behind, in seventeenth place. A revenge is expected on Sunday in Montreal.
For its 14th edition on Friday, the Grand Prix de Québec made some changes. While the elevation gain remained pretty much the same, with approximately 2,500 metres of climbing throughout the day, the Côte de la Montagne, however, was set to be the only difficulty on the course. It was nevertheless both longer (600 metres) and steeper (9% average, 13% sections) than in previous editions, and still followed by a false flat leading to the finish line. No fewer than eighteen laps were on the menu, for a total distance of 216 kilometres. The race was initially led by four breakaway riders, including two riders from the Canadian national team, before the peloton really began to increase the tempo at the halfway point. A little over 80 kilometres from the finish line, the first counterattacks occurred, and Johan Jacobs was quick to follow them. Ten kilometres later, however, Groupama-FDJ wasn’t up there when five riders, including Julian Alaphilippe, quickly took a margin of thirty seconds. Two laps later, seven other men managed to bridge across following an acceleration on the Côte de la Montagne. The gap went up to one minute, the early breakaway was caught, and the peloton struggled to close the gap despite a constant pursuit.
“The plan was to wait,” Thierry Bricaud
With one lap to go, world champion Tadej Pogacar himself attempted to break away from the bunch to join the front, but the gap remained around twenty seconds in the final lap. At the front, seven riders were ultimately able to resist the peloton’s comeback, with Valentin Madouas finishing seventeenth, just seventeen seconds behind the winner, Julian Alaphilippe. “The plan was to wait for the final, because even though the circuit had changed a bit, we thought the race would explode at that point,” explained Thierry Bricaud. “That’s more or less what happened; the race was intense in the final, but we hadn’t imagined that this breakaway would go so far. Johan anticipated the move before, but we missed the one that would have given us a head start. That’s racing. We have regrets regarding the scenario, but it’s always easy when you know the final result. It’s generally in these scenarios that Valentin anticipates, we thought we should avoid doing it here, it was a bad idea. On the other hand, he and Kevin were still there in the final. It’s quite encouraging for Sunday because the Grand Prix de Montréal will suit Valentin better. It’s an even harder circuit, UAE Team Emirates will be out for revenge, and it will be a proper race of attrition.”
