GP Montréal
2nd place for Spanish road race champion at final race of Canadian WorldTour duo, really clever into the decisive break formed with less than two laps to go
Jesús Herrada (Movistar Team) came only a couple of meters short to breaking a streak of bad luck the Blues are suffering since Carlos Barbero claimed the 31st – and currently latest- win for the Spanish outfit in 2017 on 4th August, on stage four of the Vuelta a Burgos.
The Spanish road race champion –well supported in the finale by controlling work from brother José and Winner Anacona– completed a superb race in the Grand Prix de Montréal (205km, 17 laps of a circuit around the Mont-Royal and the Côte de la Polytechnique), only beaten by Italian Diego Ulissi (UAD) after skillfully driving himself through the splits into a crazy, final two laps of the Canadian circuit..
The decisive attempt, initially 12-strong, shrunk to only six members after the last climb of the Mont-Royal, with Herrada and Ulissi joined by Mollema (TFS), Bakelants (ALM), Slagter (CDT) and Tony Gallopin (LTS), who tried to catch them by surprise with a late move into the fast run-in to the finish. Behind, the pacing work by Sunweb and attacks from Peter Sagan (BOH) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) were unable to bring them down.
Jesús, who started his sprint at the bottom of the group, overtook riders in sprinting agony, one by one, to end up just a couple of meters behind Ulissi, who frustrated what could have been Herrada's 10th win as a pro.