The Canadian double header got underway on Friday with the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. Taking place on a circuit around the city, a few punchy hills in the finale of the loop would punctuate the day; having previously helped launch winning moves or decimate the peloton in earlier editions of the event.
From the flag drop Team dsm-firmenich PostNL aimed to be involved in the race, with Frank van den Broek making it into the break of the day. Building up an advantage that topped out at just over five minutes, Van den Broek and his breakaway companions rode well, although their group thinned down over the course of the day and he was left out alongside Shmidt for the final 60 kilometres. Some counter attacks flew in the peloton but nothing was able to stick and in the end the high pace saw Van den Broek caught just ahead of the start of the final lap. Good teamwork by Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil saw Sean Flynn and Kevin Vermaerke come into the finale well, but unfortunately the duo just ran out of steam, with Flynn leading the squad home in the brutally long and tough sprint.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston expressed: “We wanted to be active today and try and have a hard race, so we had Frank in the break which was good. In the end though it was the two of them in there for a lot of the race so it wasn’t hard enough which then played a bit into the peloton’s favour and they could control it, even though Frank did a really good ride out front. Coming into the final we were looking to set up Kevin but he just tied up a bit in the last 500 metres there and couldn’t sprint for a top result.”