Jérôme Gauthier (Project Echelon Racing) was the surprise winner of the elite and under-23 men’s titles at the Canadian Road Championships held in Saint-Georges, Quebec, on Friday.
The 21-year-old was dropped from a lead group of eight riders that had split off the front of an initial breakaway of 14 over the top of the final climb, but he reconnected with the group and then out-sprinted his rivals to take the prestigious victory.
Luke Valenti (Club Ciclista Padronés-Cortizo) finished second, and Léo Roy (Team Vittel N’side) finished third on the day. Further back, Joel Plamondon (Charvieu Chavagneux Isère Cyclisme) finished fourth, Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) fifth, and Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling) sixth.
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The pair of Michael Woods (Ventum Racing) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) were also in the front group, and while they set off on a series of attacks on the run-in back to Saint-Georges, they ended up finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
Last year Gauthier earned the U23 title with a fifth-place finish in the combined road race. He came into nationals in solid form, winning the youth classification at Tour de Beauce and going second at the UCI one-day race Gran Premio New York City.
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Late breakaway and surprise winner
Riders headed north from Saint-Georges for an opening 19.3km that led to a punchy 9.4km circuit, each lap ascending the St-Odilion climb, which features in Tour de Beauce. The elite men completed eight circuits and then returned via Route Langevine to the city. The full course of 185km included 1,986 metres of elevation gain.
Unlike the unseasonably hot weather in Europe, the elite men’s race began under cloudy skies and in cooler conditions at 18°C.
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Once on the first circuit, Houle went off the front with the first successful attack of the day. Woods, now a gravel privateer, and Gee-West set to work at the front of the peloton and kept Houle within 20 seconds. However, the acceleration at the front quickly formed gaps throughout the field. Once over the St-Odilion climb the first time, the breakaway was over.
By the third lap, rain began to fall, and the peloton was divided into distinct groups, with eight in the lead comprised of Houle, Côté, Laurent Gervais (Project Echelon Racing), Plamondon, Robin Plamondon (Velo Cartel Racing), Dérénik Beauregard (ASPTT Nancy), Roy and Francis Izquierdo Bernier (Cannondale Echelon p/b 4iiii).
Gee-West made the initiative to shake things up by the mid-way point of the race, and he created a new composition in the breakaway. Côté, Houle, Joel Plamondon, Robin Plamondon, Izquierdo Bernier, Roy, Beauregard were all there from the earlier move, and they were joined by Gee-West, Woods, Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling), Gauthier, Valenti and Carl Truffer (Vittel N’Side).
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With just two-and-a-half laps to go, the 14 riders led a group of chasers by 30 seconds. Not seen in any moved behind was 2023 road race winner Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5), who was reported by Canadian Cyclist magazine to have pulled out of the race on the fifth lap.
Woods attacked on the last time up the climb on the last lap, which caused the front group to split apart, taking with him Gee-West, Houle, Joel Plamondon, Roy, Côte, and Valenti on back into Saint-Georges.
With a massive push on the pedals, Gauthier reconnected with the front group, but a series of attacks from Woods and Gee-West threatened to split the group apart again.
It was all back together within the final few kilometres of the race with Gauthier taking the reduced sprint and both the under-23 and elite men’s national titles.
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