Deliverance for Benoît Cosnefroy! This time, no tight two-up sprint and photo-finish, just a long straight cut in the heart of downtown Quebec on Friday, just to take advantage of a first success of the season, the second of the Normand (AG2R Citroën Team ) on a classic World Tour. Coming out strong on the Fort climb two kilometers from the goal, Cosnefroy overtook Michael Matthews (BikeExchange – Jayco), second, and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux), third. At the foot of the podium, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was trapped in the final, but confirmed his great form two weeks before the Worlds (September 25, in Australia).
Thomas Voeckler has a successor. The first winner of the Grand Prix de Québec and the only Frenchman on the list of winners of the Canadian event (2010), the coach of the French team now has company on the shelves. Like his elder, Benoît Cosnefroy joined the form, with a sharp attack two kilometers from the line, to which Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) tried in vain to respond. The rest are the bitter memories of an Amstel Gold Race gone after an imbroglio around the announcement of the stewards (2nd) which evaporated.
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The Jumbo had almost everything good
The Norman was able to savor a first bouquet this season, the first outside France, even if in Quebec floats some French notes. Double holder, Michael Matthews (2018, 2019) hid for a long time before emerging on the line and winning the sprint of the beaten path, ahead of Biniam Girmay (3rd) and the big favorite of the day, Wout van Aert (4th).
The Belgian, impressive winner of the Bretagne Classic two weeks ago, thought he had the victory when the Jumbo-Visma formation seemed to parasitize all the offensives. Omnipresent, the hornets Pascal Eenkhoorn and Nathan van Hooydonck were responsible for following the blows in the last laps of a circuit (12.6 km) swallowed sixteen times at very high speed (201.6 km in all). Last stage of the WVA rocket, Laporte played its role of watchdog successfully, until Cosnefroy’s plume.
Cosnefroy: “This victory changes my season”
Sunday, the riders will do it again in Montreal. The opportunity for van Aert to perfect an already dashing form two weeks before the Worlds in Australia. In this game, the Habs also have their say. Besides Cosnefroy, David Gaudu (Groupama – FDJ), Romain Bardet (DSM) and Clément Venturini (AG2R Citroën Team) each blasted the final. Auspicious ahead of Wollongong.
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