Diego Ulissi takes the victory at Grand Prix de Montreal
Sep 11 2017 04:30 am CET
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDSDiego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) has taken the victory at the Grand Prix de Montreal. The rider was the fastest of the escape group that fought for the race victory.
The second race of the Grand Prix Cyclistes was 205.7 kilometres long and took place in and around Montreal. The riders had to complete a 12.1 kilometre circuit 17 times.
Matteo Dal-Cin (Canada) and Benjamin Perry (Israel Cycling Academy) were the protagonists of the first escape of the day. The duo got an advantage of more than five minutes over the peloton and behind them there were attempts to attack by important riders like Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).
At around 80 kilometres from the finish, the escape duo was caught and the peloton rode together for a while, being pulled by teams like Lotto-Soudal and Team Sunweb. Some riders like Ian Boswell (Team Sky), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie), Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac) and Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) tried to escape, but all the attacks were neutralised by the pack.
With around 15 kilometres to go, a group of 16 riders broke free from the pack. This group included riders like Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Tony Gallopin and Dyan Teuns (Lotto-Soudal), Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) and Diego Ullisi (UAE Team Emirates) and got a gap of half a minute with the rest.
Almost 10 kilometres later, Peter Sagan made a jump from the pack and was closely followed by Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb). The group caught up but the three starts continued to set the pace in an attempt to catch those ahead.
Close to the flamme rouge of the last kilometre, Gallopin attacked from the lead group but was followed by the rest of his companions.
The chase group never managed to bridge the gap and Ulissi showed to have the stronger legs at that moment. Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Tom Jelte Slegter (Cannondale-Drapac) were second and third in the race.
