Benoît Cosnefroy wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec with late attack

Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën Team) claimed a sensational win at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec after a daring attack with 2km to go. The former U23 world champion timed his attack perfectly, going clear on the final climb before holding off a late chase from the remnants of the main field.

Michael Matthews and Biniam Girmay completed the podium.

“It’s incredible. I’m not sure what happened but I didn’t think I could win like that,” Cosnefroy said at the finish.

“I wanted to attack and it was planned but we had Greg van Avermaet for the sprint so I was to play my cards first and it worked out. I’m really happy to win here.”

Cosnefroy’s attack came after a pulsating last few laps around the Canadian city in which a number of groups clipped off the front. The Frenchman only held a slender gap on the chase with Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) leading the charge for his team and pre-race favorite Wout van Aert. However the Frenchman only managed to pull a handful of riders with him as he set off in pursuit of Cosnefroy.

When Laporte looked back to see that Van Aert was not on his wheel he immediately sat up and that hesitation appeared to give Cosnefroy a crucial advantage inside the final 1,000m.

With Jumbo-Visma disjointed it fell on the rest of the peloton to mount a chase but by the time the sprinters became organized it was too late with Cosnefroy holding on to take one of the biggest wins of his career.

Van Aert would eventually settle for fourth place on the line.