“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Don’t miss a moment of the 2024 Tour de France! Get recaps, insights, and exclusive takes with Velo’s daily newsletter.
>”,”name”:”in-content-cta”,”type”:”link”}}”>Sign up today!.
Giro d’Italia and Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar showed he has the form to pull off a very rare triple at the upcoming world championships with a stomping ride in Canada Sunday.
The UAE Team Emirates rider pulverised his rivals in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, surging clear on the climb on the penultimate lap and gaining time all the way to the finish.
He sped home 24 seconds ahead of Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), notching up his 22nd victory of the year and his first since taking the Tour de France in July.
Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) won a 13 man sprint for third place, 40 seconds back. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) were next home.
“The team did a super job,” said Pogačar. “We did exactly how we wanted to do. It was really, really great racing. Chapeau to all the teammates, without them this plan would not go to perfection. Luckily I also had good legs to pull it off in the end.”
Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech) was best of the North Americans in 8th, four places ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Pogačar looked much sharper than in Friday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebéc, where he rode aggressively but lacked the long climbs to make the difference. He had to accept seventh there, but that only sharpened his resolve to take victory on Sunday.
He succeeded in that goal, and looks like the rider to beat in the world road race championships in exactly two weeks’ time.
“This is a big motivational boost,” he confirmed. “It gives extra confidence for two weeks ahead. I cannot wait for Zurich.
“Let’s go home and make last preparation, last trainings, and [then] we are ready.”
Bilbao will also be racing in two weeks’ time and said he took encouragement from his performance Sunday.
“I saw that Tadej was on another level, like always. But I was pretty confident that I could have space today on the podium,” he said.
“I am going to be in Zurich. I think today was a really good test. I am pretty confident for the worlds.”
22nd victory at highest level in 2024 for Tadej Pogačar, more than Merckx has ever done in single season.
Most WT-wins in single season:
35 | Maertens (‘77)
22 | Pogačar (‘24*)
21 | Merckx (‘73+72)
20 | Maertens (‘76),Merckx (‘69+70+71)— Cycling Statistics (@StatsOnCycling) September 15, 2024
Tough Canadian course makes for a difficult day for break and bunch
The Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal is the harder of the two WorldTour races in Canada, and featured a course that would better suit the climbers in the peloton.
The race included 17 ascents of the Côte de Camillien-Houde and totalled 3899 vertical meters, making for a very tough day in the saddle.
The 209km event saw an immediate attack by James Piccoli (Canada), who was riding his final race and wanted to go out with a big display on home roads. He took the prime on the first ascent of the climb but Gil Gelders (Soudal Quick-Step) and Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers) replaced him at the front after that.
They built a lead of over two minutes and were joined by Dries de Bondt (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) with 176km to go. The gap continued to grow to more than five minutes over the UAE Team Emirates-led peloton.
Gelders was collecting the primes and leading the virtual KOM classification as a result. With 57km left Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) attacked from the peloton while very soon afterwards De Bondt lost his place out front.
Mohorič joined Gelders and Leonard with 50km remaining, with the latter dropped and being caught by the peloton. The other two continued riding hard but with UAE Team Emirates chasing hard behind, they were reeled in with 36km left.
The list of those dropped continued to rise, with Friday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebéc winner Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) amongst those out the back.
Pogačar pounces to land another big win
All eyes were on Pogačar, with his rivals wondering when the big attack would come. That happened on the penultimate lap, with Rafal Majka ramping the pace up on the climb inside 25km to go.
Pogačar then attacked with 23.4km left and immediately snapped the elastic, with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) best of the rest but unable to match his pace.
Neilson Powless was riding well and leaped clear of the chasers. He was caught by Jorgenson and other chasers with 16.5km to go, at which point Pogačar was 27 seconds ahead.
He continued plugging away while those behind were jumping and being brought back, creating an inconsistent pace which only favored the race leader.
Alaphilippe kicked clear with 15.2km left, showing good form. Alex Aranburu (Movistar) got up to him very soon afterwards, as did Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike). Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) also got across but the quartet was 41 seconds back on the climb and continuing to lose ground.
Lemmen was dropped on the climb while Bilbao rode clear of Alaphilippe and Aranburu. They were caught by a large chase group, leaving two riders out front racing for first and second.
Bilbao rode well to hold Pogačar to within 40 seconds. Alaphilippe continued to be amongst the most active behind, but a lack of cooperation in that group showed they were resigned to racing for third.
The Frenchman won out in the sprint for that last spot on the podium, 40 seconds behind a peerless Pogačar and 18 seconds off a dogged Bilbao.
The race winner confirmed afterwards that the intention was always to go on the penultimate lap.
“That was the plan. We executed it really well,” he said.
“Today was super-hot, super hard. We did one lap less than two years ago but that doesn’t change anything. It was a super hard race and a really beautiful parcours. Also good weather. A bit too hot, but we can’t complain.
“I am super happy for this victory. We did it together as a team.”
El ataque iba a llegar, la cuestión era saber cuándo. Tadej Pogačar se marcha en solitario a 23 km de meta #GPMontrealpic.twitter.com/ULZfm6EkGs
— VOLATA (@ccvolata) September 15, 2024
