Starting in the final climb, the Frenchman Benoît Cosnefroy struck a huge blow on Friday by winning the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec alone. “It was premeditated, I wanted to attack in this difficulty”, savored the Norman. “It’s incredible, I don’t realize what’s happening to me, it’s very hard to win here”, underlined the puncher of the AG2R-Citroën team who pulled off a big number to become the second Frenchman to win. impose here, after Thomas Voeckler in 2010.
Facing a five-star field, including Tadej Pogacar in particular, he won alone, four seconds ahead of the Australian Michael Matthews, winner of the last two editions in 2018 and 2019, the Eritrean Biniam Girmay and the Belgian Wout van Aert , big favourite.
A good omen two weeks before the road race of the World Championships, on September 25 in Wollongong (Australia), even if Cosnefroy, 26, hinted this summer that he would not necessarily be present at the Worlds. A position perhaps to reconsider as he made a strong impression in the very nervous final of the Quebec race, marked by numerous attacks, including that of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).
Sheltered throughout the race, Cosnefroy bided his time to get out of the peloton 2.2 km from the finish. “To be honest, it was premeditated. I wanted to attack in this difficulty, it worked”, he commented. Chased away by Christophe Laporte, Van Aert’s teammate, he resisted the return of the pack, even affording himself the luxury of being able to savor his exploit when crossing the finish line, after 201.6 km of racing and 16 circuit laps traveled at a frantic pace.
“The last kilometer was a kilometer of suffering, but I was able to take advantage in the last 50 meters,” commented Cosnefroy, who won his 13th professional victory, the first of the year. “This changes the course of my season, from an average season, it becomes an exceptional season, a victory in the World Tour is so difficult to get,” he said.
He will be able to aim for the double on Sunday during the Montreal GP which, like that of Quebec, is making its return to the cycling calendar after two editions canceled because of the Covid. Especially since it will be on a course that suits him even better, as he explained with a greedy smile. “But we’re going to have a good beer tonight first to celebrate,” he added.
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