Diego Ulissi won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on Sunday afternoon, preventing Peter Sagan from completing the sweep this weekend in Quebec, Canada.
The Italian scored the 205.7 kilometre Montreal event in five hours, 22 minutes and 29 seconds. He has signed one of the most successful of his career, so far marked by six stage victories at the tour of Italy.
The 28-year-old cyclist led in the order Movistar’s Jesus Sherada and Cannondale’s Tom-Jelte Slagter The favorites, including Boh Bora’s Sagan and BMC’s Greg van Avermaet, were trapped behind.
On the other hand, Sagan hoped to complete the sweep after triumphing Friday at the Grand Prix, defending his title acquired last year in the Old Capitol. The Slovak cyclist was trying to duplicate Simon Gerrans’s feat in 2014 when he became the first cyclist to win both North American UCI World Tour races in the same year.
Van Avermaet, the gold medalist at the 1981 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, was the reigning champion at the Montreal Cycling Grand Prix. He also finished second in Quebec city last year.
This Grand Prix took place in the same way as in previous editions, a group of runways, first Canadian Matteo Dal-cin and Benjamin Perry. For the first 120 kilometres, then Ian Boswell and Natnael Berhane for the next 44, escaped from the peloton before being gradually caught up, furious.
Numerous cyclists, including Antoine Duchesne and Guillaume Boivin, succeeded each other in the front of the pack, without being able to stand out.
A group of six cyclists, including Ulissi, Herreda and Bauke Mollema, broke away in the final lap and could not be caught. Ulissi first crossed the finish line of this 17-loop 12.1 kilometre race around Mount Royal.
Duchesne, meanwhile, was the best Canadian cyclist in the green of his 42nd position, 1 minute 40 seconds from Ulissi. Boivin was the best representative of the unifoilie under his 29th place on Friday.
Most famous cyclists take the part at Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal 2017. (Source:www.cyclingnews.com)
The Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec will be back at least until 2018, while the GP Cycliste de Montreal is held until 2019. The organizer of two events since their formed in 2010, Serge Arsenault, has already expressed the wish to extend these long-term agrrements, while hoping to add a third North American component, presumably in boston or New York.
