Remco Evenepoel begins his Canadian campaign in the best possible way with an eye on the World Championships: the Belgian won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec, contested over a distance of 206 km, beating in a two-man sprint the excellent Giulio Ciccone, the only one able to stay on Remco's wheel and resist his attacks. The two broke away from Anton Charmig on the final climb, in the last kilometer the Abruzzese rider tried to unsettle his rival without even offering a turn and playing everything on the sprint, but against a Remco in great form there was nothing to be done. Fourth place for Tom Pidcock, fifth for Quinn Simmons and a spot in the top ten also for Alessandro Pinarello, who finished in ninth place.

THE RACE. The breakaway takes a lap and a half to get clear, but eventually Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious), Storm Ingebrigtsen (Uno-X Mobility), Jonas Rutsch (Lotto Intermarchè), Frank Van den Broek (Picnic PostNL), Aivaras Mikutis (Tudor) and Samuel Boardman (Modern Adventure) manage to escape. 
The race begins to heat up on the 12th lap (of 20), with several attack attempts on the Côte de la Montagne and the advantage of the breakaway riders inevitably collapsing. A few kilometers later, the continuous attacks at the front split the group in half and 55 km from the finish a group of 13 riders forms ahead, with Italian riders playing a leading role.

Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana), Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious), Maximilian Schachmann, Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Soudal Quick-Step), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Alessandro Pinarello (NSN), Jonas Rutsch (Lotto Intermarchè) and Quinten Hermans (Pinarello Q36.5) break clear and manage to gain more than a minute on the main group. The reaction from the favorites, however, is not long in coming and bears the signature of Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who opens up the throttle during the 16th lap and forces the other big names, namely Pidcock, Evenepoel and Del Toro, to show their cards. 

The acceleration is enough to neutralize the attempt of the 13 riders in the breakaway, although Bettiol counterattacks, third last year and comfortable in Quebec, while behind him fewer than 30 riders remain in pursuit. 27 km from the finish, Evenepoel, Ciccone, Pinarello and Charmig catch up with the Tuscan, with the Belgian not wasting time and on the third-to-last climb of the Côte de la Montagne he increases the pace again, putting Bettiol and Pinarello in difficulty. Behind, especially Seixas and Pidcock react, but Remco demonstrates he is already in World Championship form, with Ciccone and Charmig resisting and working together. At the start of the final lap the advantage over the chasers is 16 seconds.

FINAL RESULTS

1. Evenepoel Remco (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) in 04:40:21
2. Ciccone Giulio (Lidl-Trek)
3. Charmig Anthon (Uno-X Mobility) + 15
4. Pidcock Tom (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) + 28
5. Simmons Quinn (Lidl-Trek) + 30
6. Matthews Michael (Team Jayco-AlUla) + 35
7. Lapeira Paul (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) + 43
8. Jorgenson Matteo (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) + 43
9. Pinarello Alessandro (NSN Cycling Team) + 45
10. Schachmann Max (Soudal Quick-Step) +47