GP Montréal

Rui Costa makes another decisive selection at the GP Montréal, ends up overtaken by his fastest competitors: 6th place behind winner Peter Sagan (CAN)

A race with two very different phases -an opening phase with no real attacks and three final laps full of moves from some of the biggest names in the peloton- went eventually awarded to Peter Sagan (CAN) after a late, solo exhibition in the 4th edition of the GP Montréal, held on Sunday over 17 laps (206km) of circuit around the climbs of the Mont Royal, the Polytechnique and the Avenue du Parc in the Canadian city. The Slovak made his move into the penultimate ascent, 6km from the finish, to leave behind a 20-man elite group including Movistar Team’s two big references throughout the weekend: Jesús Herrada and Rui Costa.

It was Herrada’s responsibility to control the attacks in the penultimate lap, and the Spanish road champion launched himself into a seven-man which was reached down by the peloton before the bell lap. The last ascent towards the Mont Royal broke the peloton under the moves of Froome (SKY) or Contador (TST), leaving Rui Costa as the main contender from the Blues. Sprinting behind Ponzi (AST) and Hesjedal (GRS), the better speed from some of his rivals took him out of the podium’s waterline and down to 6th, ten seconds behind Sagan. Herrada completed the Blues’ notable performance into top-25.