“I hope that in Quebec, he will be particularly friendly with us…”
The message is out: Arnaud De Lie, defending champion of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, is asking for a little clemency from Tadej Pogacar.
The Tour de France champion is making a return to Canada after his 2022 victory on Mount Royal. With luck, De Lie thinks, the Slovenian troublemaker will be magnanimous on the Grande Allée on Friday, he who finished 24the on his only visit two years ago.
“He remains the best rider in the world and we know that he can change a race single-handedly,” conceded the 22-year-old Belgian champion upon his arrival at Montreal airport on Tuesday morning. “We’ll see. We’ll have to stay focused on the objective, which is to be in the first group and then think about winning.”
The “Bull of Lescheret” remembers “as if it were yesterday” his victory last year, his first at this level, acquired on his first trip outside of Europe. “It’s special to come back here, with all the atmosphere, the chartered plane with all the teams.”
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Arnaud de Lie
“In great shape” as evidenced by his recent victory at the last stage of the Renewi Tour, the representative of the Lotto Dstny team has made Quebec one of his main targets at the start of the season.
“It’s certain that with the team, we’re not just showing the jersey. It will be showing the jersey, but really on the last few hundred meters of the line on Quebec.”
“Unpredictable”
Pogacar was conspicuous by his absence on the flight from Paris carrying more than a hundred cyclists who will compete in the only two WorldTour events held in the Americas, in Quebec (Friday) and Montreal (Sunday).
Due to an administrative glitch, the Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates had to wait almost five hours before being able to take the next plane to the metropolis. He is due to answer questions from journalists on Wednesday afternoon in the capital.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Tadej Pogacar at the 2022 Montreal Cycling Grand Prix.
“He’s unpredictable, so that’s what’s going to change the race,” observed Frenchman Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), silver medallist in the road race at the Paris Olympics.
“We will have to prepare for all types of scenarios, which will attack very early, like a waiting race. We will see. [Pogacar] has a very good team around him, he should not neglect it. He can win both races. He knows very well that he has a good chance of winning Montreal more easily than Quebec. So it’s up to him to run the race.”
The red thread
And for the others to do theirs, warned Romain Bardet, in particular for the Montreal event, “one of the most demanding races of the year where there is a real, slightly tactical dimension” due to the length of the main climb and the configuration of the circuit.
Faced with an overpowering UAE, completed among others by Tim Wellens, crowned in Montreal in 2015 and at the Renewi Tour at the beginning of the month, and Juan Ayuso, a 21-year-old Spanish nugget, the other squads will have to take things in hand.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Romain Bardet
“We’re going to have to try to counter them, to anticipate this movement of the race to avoid them finding themselves dictating their law and us simply being spectators of their race,” summed up Bardet, first yellow jersey of the last Tour after an anthology stage victory at the end of a duo breakaway with Frank van den Broek, his young colleague from the Dutch team dsm-firmenich PostNL.
At 33, Bardet will be competing in his seventh and final Quebec GP, retiring after the Critérium du Dauphiné at the beginning of next summer. The rider who has twice finished on the podium at the Grande Boucle will miss the Canadian races and their “rather atypical” format since they are held on a circuit “in the heart of the city”. “For our sport, it’s also good.”
Three times among the top 10 on the Avenue du Parc, Bardet will certainly not play the tourist for this final lap on American soil, which he intends to use as a springboard for the World Championships in Zurich (September 29).
“When we participated in the Giro and the Tour, [les Grands Prix]it’s a real anchor point. It’s one of the only races that we really want to prepare for. These are great moves, especially Montreal, a race that I’ve always liked. And with the upcoming World Championships in mind, it’s really what allows us to position ourselves. It’s the common thread of the last part of the season to prepare for your races. So it’s a great pleasure to be back.”
Woods in Montreal
Michael Woods has confirmed his participation in the Montreal Grand Prix on Sunday. The Canadian champion has not raced since his retirement from the Vuelta a España due to fatigue on September 4, five days after his stage victory in Puerto de Ancares, the third of his career in the Vuelta.
“I’m really excited to race in Montreal, especially wearing the Canadian jersey,” the 37-year-old shared on Israel-Premier Tech (IPT) social media on Tuesday. “It’s a dream to race in Montreal with the national champion jersey. It’s a race I discovered when I first started cycling, and it’s almost a home race for me because Ottawa is so close. I have friends who ride from Ottawa every year, so it’s a very special race for me. Having that jersey at this race is going to be super cool.”
Woods played a crucial role in New Zealand teammate Corbin Strong’s second-place finish in Quebec City last year. Veterans Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin, as well as Derek Gee, a revelation of the last Tour with a ninth-place finish, will also line up in Bruno Marchand’s city for IPT.
Runner-gatherers
The disembarkation of the riders caught a representative of the Réseau d’aide aux travailleurs migrants agricoles du Québec (RATTMAQ) off guard. He was preparing to welcome Guatemalans and Hondurans who had come to lend a hand with the harvest, particularly in the orchards, when the journalists (unintentionally) set up shop in front of his booth in the international arrivals hall. There was no crowd, but the speaker still had to move to be sure he could accomplish his mission and hand over important documents. Fortunately, the departure of the cyclists coincided with the arrival of the workers, who were able to be received properly.