The 32-year-old took his second consecutive top 10 finish in a World Tour one-day race.
One of the oldest cities in North America, Quebec welcomed the World Tour peloton for the ninth consecutive year with a challenging parcours made up of 16 laps of a 12.6km-long circuit which boasted four climbs: Côte de la Montagne, Côte de la Potasse, Montée de la Fabrique and Montée du Fort. As expected, the race was animated by a breakaway, numbering five riders, who set off in the opening kilometers only to be reeled in on the penultimate lap, when Rémi Cavagna launched an attack.
The young Frenchman established a small lead over the peloton, but despite his valiant effort, was brought back to heel by a charging bunch, from whose clutches Peter Kennaugh (Bora-hansgrohe) escaped and built a 20-second margin which he kept until the final 400 meters, where he was swept by the chasers, who used the hard slopes of Montée du Fort and the headwind to their advantage.
Well-positioned in the frantic finale, Zdenek Stybar patiently waited to launch his sprint with 250 meters to go, but unfortunately got briefly boxed in and by the moment he could find a space, a top 3 result was out of the question. Still, the former Czech Champion was capable of a strong kick on the uphill drag and concluded in sixth position, his second top 10 result at World Tour level following the one in Bretagne Classic, two weeks ago.
Quick-Step Floors – who not only retained its top spot in the World Tour team classification, but also managed to increase the advantage over the closest rivals – will now move its focus to the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, scheduled this Sunday, on the course made famous by Eddy Merckx at the 1974 World Championships.
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
