11/09/2022

Tadej Pogacar outsprints Wout van Aert to thrilling win at GP de Montréal

The second and final Canadian classic, the GP de Montréal, has seen a very exciting finale as a quintet went into the finish after going clear in the day's hills, and Tadej Pogacar outsprinted Wout van Aert to the line to win ahead of the World Championships.

The race saw an early move of five riders, with Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM), Antoine Duchesne (Groupama - FDJ), Théo Delacroix (Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) and Antonio Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan Team). The quinted, similarly to the GP de Québec, got a modest gap, but never threatened the win on the day.

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The Norwegian Leknessund was the strongest out of them, and on the hard circuit he went clear with 48 kilometers in an attempt to surprise as he had in the Arctic Race of Norway some weeks ago. He rode a strong pace, however the work of UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma slowly brought the gap down, taking out also several riders who couldn't take up the pace that was being set in the peloton.

Until the penultimate climb no-one could attack in the peloton. Shortly after - with 21 kilometers to go - Cristian Scaroni and Frederik Wandahl attacked and grew a gap of over 35 seconds, which grew as there was little chasing power before the final ascent. Daniel Martínez set off early in the climb, and soon after Tadej Pogacar made his move from behind, followed by Wout van Aert and Andrea Bagioli. Before the summit Adam Yates bridged over and attacked with the same trio following, alongside David Gaudu - with Van Aert struggling to hold the wheels but succeeding.

Several attacks sparked from behind, but the front group kept it's cohesion and the gap towards the final kilometers. In the final hilltop both Adam Yates and David Gaudu went all-in to get a gap, but Wout van Aert managed to control both attacks.

Into the sprint Gaudu tried to surprise with an early sprint, with Tadej Pogacar going in to close the gap. It was a long move, and the uphill gradients favoured the Slovenian, who held the speed to the line and beat Wout van Aert and Andrea Bagioli to the line.