Montreal madness from Tadej Pogacar! Slovenian heads to World Championship in race winning form after epic 23km solo GP de Montréal victory
CyclingMonday, 16 September 2024 at 14:52
Tadej Pogacar is inevitable. Although he was denied in Quebec on Friday, this Sunday at the GP de Montréal there has been no stopping the Slovenian, who heads to the upcoming Zurich World Championship in race winning form.
Three riders got themselves up the road early on. With 40 kilometres raced, the trio of Michael Leonard (INEOS Grenadiers), Gil Gelders (Soudal - Quick-Step) and Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) had over five and a half minutes advantage over the peloton.
UAE Team Emirates were controlling things at the front of the peloton and sensing the gap growing larger, they quickly upped the pace. Despite there still being way over 100km left, the acceleration of UAE Team Emirates quickly knocked three minutes off the leading trio's advantage.
With 50km to go, Leonard and Gelders were still dangling tantalisingly in front of the peloton by around 30 seconds, when they were joined by a counter attacking Matej Mohoric. Soon after, Leonard too was caught by the peloton, leaving just Gelders and Mohoric clear heading into the final 45km.
With 36km to go, Gelders and Mohoric's attacks were over and things were all together at the front again heading towards the finale. After a momentary lull in the action afterwards, the racing sparked back into life with the big expected attack from Tadej Pogacar with around 23km to go. With 20km to go, the Slovenian had already put in over 20 seconds on his rivals.
Although the likes of Julian Alaphilippe and Pello Bilbao were leading the chase behind, the gap to Pogacar was only growing and with 10km to go, the UAE Team Emirates leader was clear by 30 seconds from a chase group of four (Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Bart Lemmen and Alex Aranburu), with peloton now almost a minute down.
And as you might expect from that kind of position, it was Pogacar who ran out the dominant winner, with Bilbao holding off the chasing pack for second.
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- Yep, and considering neither is really built for climbing, it speaks volumes. Only name I can see who has a climbers build is KN. An observation maybe someone will find interesting or have more info on, compared to men, the strong lady climbers are heavier, often the equivalent of their male versions for same height. Is it because the girls try to build muscle to climb better or the boys try to lose weight for that or both, seems paradoxical.Mistermaumau09-05-2025
- His injury problems were known to his past team who still tried to re-sign him, who’s fault, especially if the medical team fails to resolve problems? Not sure it’s offered or possible but teams are free to consider insurance or contract clauses in order to mitigate financial risks.Mistermaumau09-05-2025
- Lafay is the classic example of you get a great TDF stage win, get a lucrative contract and then you dont perform ever again, due to partying or injuries.abstractengineer09-05-2025
- I think it’s pretty weird under the circumstances and won’t be surprised if one day we discover some unmentioned detail that triggered this. In the meantime, hope he finds himself elsewhere.Mistermaumau08-05-2025
- Reusser is amazing too. More than just a TT specialist.mobk08-05-2025
- Tough to beat her on the long climbs if she has a team that will bring her fresh to the bottom of the climbsmobk08-05-2025
- Er, building up a 20 second gap in less than a km against the best is not exactly nothing, must have been at least 10% faster. Peletons also reel in breakaways but if they don’t manage BEFORE the end the reeling in doesn’t really mean much does it. She did exactly the right think, destroyed the others’ chances of catching her with a massive attack.Mistermaumau08-05-2025
- Demi must be so happy to now be on a team that works for her, and not against her. I think that if she and the team get their tactics dialed in, she could prove to be unstoppable this year.
santiagobenites08-05-2025 - I wouldn't call 24 seconds destroyed. At the end she was suffering and Reusser was slowly reeling her backabstractengineer08-05-2025
- I dont expect much from them top 5 maybeabstractengineer08-05-2025
I saw it in person today in Montreal. Pogi was brilliant. Really special to see such greatness in person.
I was in Quebec - at some point, North American fans who see each other online should get together or something. Maybe next year?
How about you do it in 2026 when Montreal will host WC
Great idea! I probably won't be able to attend next year but will not miss the 2026 worlds in Montreal for anything.
Definitely plan to come to the Worlds - I live in Maine, so Montreal is close enough at least for a long weekend.
That was clinical, precise, and devastating. As usual. UAE played the climbs just right, in a way that they couldn't in Quebec City because the climbs are so short there. There's a theme to Pogacar not winning in a sprint situation (Catalunya stage 1, Giro stage 1, Tour stage 11, Quebec) and then coming back and winning everything in sight. That's not a prediction for the Worlds, but he was on a mission today, and he's on a mission for Worlds. And then Lombardia as well?!