(Quebec) “Tabernacle! », gushed Maxim Van Gils after kissing his teammate Arnaud De Lie, lying in the middle of the Grande Allée, still in shock from having won the Quebec cycling Grand Prix on Friday afternoon.
The Belgian from Lotto Dstny showed off his exceptional power to catch New Zealander Corbin Strong, teammate of Quebecers Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin at Israel-Premier Tech, in the final sprint.
The two young twenty-somethings managed to subdue the Australian Michael Matthews, double winner in Quebec, who this time had to settle for third place, his sixth podium in his last seven starts here.
At 21 years old and only in his second professional season, De Lie is already a winning machine.
Before arriving in the national capital, where he began to familiarize himself with the vernacular, he had 16 victories under his belt. But he had never raised his arms in a race the size of the Quebec GP, labeled WorldTour.
“Yeah, it’s just amazing,” De Lie said at a press conference. To be only 21 years old and to win here in Quebec… We know that it is a classic flagship of the WorldTour calendar. There is a crazy level. It’s just amazing. »
Raised on a cattle farm, which earned him the nickname Bull of Lescheret, his village of origin, De Lie is a former mountain biker who took to the road when he began to gain mass at adolescence. One of his inspirations is his Walloon compatriot Philippe Gilbert, winner of the second GP of Quebec in 2011.
De Lie even remembers following Thomas Voeckler’s inaugural victory on television the previous year. He was 8 years old then…
At the start of the season, the Belgian sprinter expressed his interest in participating in the Canadian classics. Relegated to the second division as Israel-Premier Tech, Lotto Dstny had to cover the costs of the trip as a guest team.
“The team had to invest to come here,” he stressed. It was me who said at the beginning of the year that I wanted to come. Being able to raise my arms here also means thanking the management who trusted me, because it’s a journey that is still expensive. »
Contested in the heat of this late summer, the 201.6 km event was almost entirely dry, a “dream scenario” for De Lie, who feared that the acceleration of the peloton would come earlier in case of downpour.
The plot of this 12th GP of Quebec was classic, with a long breakaway of four riders, kept at a reasonable distance by teams interested in a sprint, in particular the Jayco AlUla of Matthews.
The Belgian Mauri Vansevenant (Quick-Step), the Italian Gianmarco Garofoli (Astana), the Spaniard David Lozano Riba (Novo Nordisk) and the Czech champion Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) have never been able to raise the gap up to four minutes. The leading quartet, which young Quebecer Félix Hamel (national team) tried to join in vain, was caught with 43 kilometers to go.
Apart from Ben Healy, the Irish EF champion, few attacks were attempted until the last lap. The headwind blowing on Champlain Boulevard, along the river, discouraged many, Matthews noted.
Crowned last year after a surprise start in the Côte des Glacis, Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) did it again, but a little earlier this time, in the Côte de la Montagne.
The Frenchman dug a nice hole, before being caught two kilometers further, just after passing Robert Lepage’s Le Diamant.
From there, the Canadian Michael Woods, very in legs, did a colossal job to position his teammate Strong at the front of the pack for the then predictable sprint. The New Zealander seemed able to take victory, but he was swallowed up by De Lie in the final meters.
“At more or less 500-600 meters, it becomes flatter and I still had Florian Vermeesch and Maxim Van Gils with me,” said De Lie. We knew how to pick up speed. I was a little far away, but it was also good: I was in the heart of the peloton and I knew how to keep my strength for the real finale. I throw from quite a distance, but with the aspiration of others, I was able to gain a lot of speed. »
“These are arrivals that don’t lie. It is often the strongest who wins. Today was me. »
During his first stay outside Europe, Arnaud De Lie promised to return to “this beautiful country” with the wish to perfect his Quebec accent. Sitting alongside him as the best Canadian (41st), Guillaume Boivin however advised him against reusing the word “tab…”
