Cycling Masterclass! | 2026 Men’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec Race Highlights

Welcome to Quebec with the fleur-de-lis on the flag and Michael Woods handing out autographs. This is a UET memorandum. This is Remco Evenepoel, Paul Cixas. It's a star-studded lineup. Isaac Del Toro is there. Tom Pitcock on the first row as well as the Canadian national champion Gucci. This is the course of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec edition number 15. We've got a lap. It's a little bit shorter than it used to be but it still has the Côte de la Montagne and we're going to do this lap 20 times. That means 206 kilometers in total with an elevation of 2,800 meters. Michael Matthews also on the front row. He's a man with a rather impressive track record here in Quebec, winning it three times and being on the podium another four times. He's been in the top 10 almost every edition of this race. We had some early attacks in the first lap. We're now in the second lap and then the move of the day goes led by Storm Ingebrigtsen of Unuex Mobility. Aifaras Mikutis is the national champion of Lithuania for Tudor. We have Frank van den Broek here with 171 for Picnic Postenel. Sam Bortmann there for Modern Adventure Pro Cycling and then two Germans in that first group with Nikias Arndt for Berlin Victorious and Jonas Rutsch of Lotto Antermarschie. It's the team of Sig Sass of EVE Nepal and also of Tom Pitcock leading the peloton making sure that this group doesn't get too far. The maximum lead they got was three and a half minute but they quickly brought it back to two and a half and now with eight laps to go to just one and a half minutes as we have Tour of Britain winner Tim Velens on the attack. It was a rather aggressive and open race here in Quebec where a lot of riders saw an opportunity to win a world tour one day classic. Very active Quinn Simmons there the American champion but we still have four riders of our original breakaway at the front with Ingebrigtsen, Mikutis, Rutsch and van den Broek. But then with six laps to go the move seems to be over and more attacks are happening. It was a joy to watch the aggressive racing here on the roads of Quebec. Beautiful weather around 20 degrees celsius which is about 68 fahrenheit as we have Andrea Raccagni with Max Schachmann the Soudal quick-step duo at the front and then the first attacks from some of the favorites with Paul Sig Sass here with the green helmet with Quinn Simmons and Remco Evenepoel. He only raced this race in 2019 in his first year as a pro didn't really make any waves but now he's here on a mission and that is Mission Canada. He wants two world titles one on the time trial one on the road and why not pick up some results here in Quebec and in Montreal as we are here anyways. Ben Healy on his birthday in pink he places an attack but that's quickly countered by and then with a little bit of tailwind and uh well a little bit of a lack of reaction from their chasers it's an attack by Alberto Petio. The Italian XTS Astana rider was part of the decisive move in the race last year as well and managed to finish on the podium in third behind Pavel Sivakov and Julian Alaphilippe which in hindsight would be the last victory of the French rider Julian Alaphilippe. Let's see all he manages to get 20 seconds but with uh yeah just shy of three laps to go that is going to be one tough ask. He needs a little bit of company and company comes because there is a Remco Evenepoel with Giulio Ciccone, Alessandro Pinarello and Anton Charmis. Four riders makes five and that is a good group. It is Remco Evenepoel himself who does much of the pacing of this group and with two laps to go the group is now down to three. Pinarello and Petio they go overboard and now it's Ciccone, Charmis and Evenepoel in the lead. Paul Zigzas, Simons very actively racing they try to bridge across the gap is only a handful of seconds but they don't manage to bridge it because with one lap to go it's up to about 18 seconds again. This is the chasing group and it's not for a lack of trying. We have Michael Matthews there in purple and remarkably a counter-attack by one of the teammates of a rider in the brake of Giulio Ciccone because Quinn Simmons goes on the counter-attack but the gap is just too big for the American to close it. This is the final time of the Course de la Montagne and Anton Charmis takes the inside of the corner and that's the steepest part and that's how he loses the wheel of Giulio Ciccone and Remco Evenepoel. Ciccone got himself in the best position. Remco Evenepoel is kind of waiting 300 meters to go. When is Ciccone going to make that move? Charmis is just soldiering on in the back. The gap seems big enough there for the Dane of Unix and there is the move by Remco Evenepoel but Ciccone is not beaten just yet. There is the line. Is it going to be Ciccone? Is it going to be Remco Evenepoel? It's all the way to the line between Evenepoel and Ciccone and Evenepoel wins it in the end ahead of Ciccone and it's a third place here for Anton Charmis. What a sprint there by Remco Evenepoel and Giulio Ciccone. Remco Evenepoel starts his mission Canada with a win in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec beating Giulio Ciccone and Anton Charmis completes the podium. After five weeks of not racing since his win in Italy, Evenepoel is back. Ciccone, Charmis, then Tom Pitcock, Quinn Simmons, Michael Matthews, his 10th time in the top 10 in this race. Lapera, Jorgensen, Pinarello and Schachmann. A beaming podium with Ciccone, Evenepoel and Charmis in a rather attractive edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec with a worthy winner. Sunday we go again with the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal with a lot more climbing but with the same favourites as today here in Québec.