Montreal’s Guillaume Boivin may have been a last-minute replacement for the road worlds, but he’s making good use of the spot. The 37-year-old pro is away in a large group with a sizable gap on the field.

The 16-strong break contains Tilen Finkšt, Andreas Leknessund, Felix Engelhardt, Biniam Girmay, Henok Mulubrhan, Jamie Meehan,, Emīls Liepiņš, Heorhii Antonenko, Mihajlo Stolić, Christofer Robín Jurado, Alexandre Mayer, Iustin-Ioan Văidian, Andreas Miltiadis, Kaden Hopkins, Amir Arsalan Ansari and former national champion Boivin.

Gee West’s news about the road worlds

The NSN Cycling rider was called up to replace Derek Gee-West just days before the road race. The Osgoode, Ont. rider crashed at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.

Initially, it seemed that Gee-West was OK–he rode to the hotel and it seemed he had been lucky. He said he would skip the TT and mixed relay but hoped to be good for the road race. But on Sept. 22, the national time trial champion gave a crummy update.

“Unfortunately, the ribs didn’t make it out of the crash on Sunday in one piece, so I won’t be lining up for the individual time trial or the mixed team relay. I’ll do everything I can to line up next Sunday for the road race in the best shape possible in front of the home crowd, and can’t wait to see the Canadians rip it up across the rest of the events,” he said.

Boivin racing at home

That meant Boivin would race. He’s had a tough year with injuries and bad luck, but he was stoked to be racing on home roads. Boivin, who was born in Saguenay, and grew up in St. Hubert, was happy about racing, despite the circumstances.

“I appreciate Derek’s honesty in the situation, I know it’s very hard for him to pull out of his home worlds,” Boivin said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking to have a good race and represent Canada well on home turf.”

Boivin had just finished the Renewi Tour–the five day stage race in Belgium, when he got the news and came back to Canada to prepare for the worlds. He race again in France, then the Grands Prix in Canada. Boivin is a three-time champion, and we can all remember that amazing ride he had at Paris-Roubaix, when wearing the national championship jersey, he finished 9th.

Currently, Boivin doesn’t have a contract, so maybe some of this TV time helps.

“I’m sad for Derek,” Boivin said before the race. “But I missed the Tour due to injury and sometimes your number gets called and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m super happy and it’s going to be a great day.”

This is not his final race of the season either.  “I will stay here until Friday and then I’ll head to Germany.” (The Sparkassen Münsterland Giro takes place next week.)

CBC Gem is broadcasting the race, and Canadian Cycling Magazine is on the ground making all kinds of content for you.