When Remco Evenepoel sealed his victory on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, he pointed his right hand seemingly to the horizon and his left made a mini-telescope for his eye. What was its meaning?
“The dialed-in celebration was something I copied,” Evenepoel said after the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, referring to the celly he deployed after winning the 2024 Olympic road race. He then added that his wife, Oumaïma “Oumi” Rayane, and her brothers said that he needed a celebration of his own. “It was a bit of work to find something. But, luckily, I had a month to think about it. This morning, I was on a call with Oumi and we decided to go for this one. I hope it’s going to be my signature celebration.
“The meaning—I still need to find something for that, the meaning behind it. I hope it looked good, but we’ll see.”
Whether the winner’s new signature gesture is esthetically pleasing or not, time will tell. The race in Quebec City, the 15th edition of the Grand Prix, however, was something to take in. In a sense, the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider called it two days before when he said it was a race that explodes. For the first half, it stuck largely to formula. A break of six got away. Nickolas Zukowsky, the Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team rider born in Montreal, largely controlled by pulling the peloton for roughly two and a half hours. With about 81 km to go, a group of 12 riders got away, which included Ben Healy, Derek Gee-West, his Lidl-Trek teammate Quinn Simmons, Alberto Bettiol and Tim Wellens. Prior to this moment, Evenepoel didn’t feel like he had good legs. But when the race truly switched on, the action forced some life into the Belgian’s extremities. The group of 12 eventually caught the early breakaway, but true cohesion didn’t last.
From that group of 12, Bettiol, who was third in the 2025 edition of the GP Quebec, got a gap that he managed to hold. At 28 km left to go, Evenepoel, Giulio Ciccone, Anthon Charmig and Alessandro Pinarello caught Bettiol. Not long after, Pinarello and Bettiol were dropped on the Côte de la Montagne climb. In the final 2 km, it came down to Ciccone and Evenepoel.
Anthon Charmig works hard just to stay on Remco Evenepoel’s wheel. Giulio Ciccone rounds out the trio that stayed together until the final kilometres of the 2026 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn
“He was doing the main work in the front,” Ciccone said after the race. “I was playing a bit on the situation because I also had a few teammates just behind. I tried to be, you know, a bit smart. Of course, we all know how strong Remco is. It’s not easy to stay behind him, especially in the flats. He’s super strong.
“I was thinking I’d try to go earlier, maybe try to use the speed of the small downhill before the finish. But, Remco is really super aero. It’s really hard to stay behind him. And he has a super good kick. I was on the limit on the last climb.”
After the race, third-place finisher, Denmark’s Charmig, echoed Ciccone’s observations about Evenepoel. “It’s almost harder [riding behind Evenepoel] than being in the front,” Charmig said. “I’d have to recover when I took my turns because he’s incredibly strong. I think he did 80 per cent of the work in the breakaway.”
“We were going like 700 or 800 W [on the final climb,]” Evenepoel said. “Once we got into the long straight toward the last kilometre, there was a pretty strong headwind. I kind of dropped the pace and accelerated again, accelerating and stopping to kind of kill Ciccone’s legs a bit. Then I kept to the left side because the wind was from the right side, so I wanted to put him in the wind as well. The sprint was a bit of a gamble because of the strong headwind. That’s also why I waited quite late. When it really kicked up again in the park, I really launched and it was really difficult to manage the situation with him because he’s also a pretty fast finisher.”
In the end, Evenepoel prevailed, taking his first win in Quebec City. In the post-race press conference, he was asked if the race had a particular flavour. “Yes, actually, because of the war of the frites with Quebec,” he said for laughs, likely alluding to the local dish of poutine and the Belgian love of fried spuds. Jokes aside, Evenepoel showed himself to be incredibly strong in Quebec City and truly a favourite for the upcoming world championships in Montreal. The cryptic celly is likely to be deployed again soon.
The podium of the 2026 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. From left, Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek, 2nd. Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, 1st. Anthon Charmig of Uno-X Mobility, 3rd. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn