Matej Mohoric sprinted to a fifth at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, where Lotto Dstny secured the win with young Belgian rider Arnaud De Lie.
The 12 edition of the first of the one-day races in Canada featured 16 12.6km laps of the Québec City Circuit with just under 3,000m of altitude gain. And with limited opportunities for a break to get away, as expected, it ultimately came down to the final kilometres on the last lap.
Cosnefroy made the first move (AG2R) with 2.6km to go but was quickly brought back until another move was made by Powless (EF Education), and in the final few hundred meters, it was all back together to contest the slight uphill sprint.
Mohoric was in the select bunch to contest the sprint and came from behind to take fifth. “Today, the goal was to wait for the final sprint because we thought it would be the best chance to get a result here. I’ve been feeling good lately, and we hoped I could take it here to the races in Canada. The guys did a good job looking after me, and in the end, Pello delivered me perfectly in third position in the crucial corner at the bottom of the last steep climb with 4km to go, leaving it up to me to finish it off,” he said.
“I played it a little bit safe, waited for the final sprint, and didn’t quite have the legs to get on the podium, but 5th is still a great result, and I’m proud of it.”
&uuid=(email))