Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec 2014

Helped by a great collective effort by his Orica Greenedge  team-mates all day, the Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner again triumphed on Grande Allee, like in 2012, with the Australian champion jersey on his back. 

Dumoulin had moved just as the race was riding past Porte St Louis and looked ideally placed before Gerrans, led in the finale by Jens Keukeleire, surged in punishing fashion. He also became the first rider to win one of the GPCQM races twice.  

"It went perfectly well. I waited for the finale and my team-mates protected me well until the last lap when the favorites got together. 
"It’s a very special victory for me as I had great memories from two years ago," he said. 

After several vain attempts, the break of the day developed after 14 kilometres and involved Slovenia’s Jan Polanc (Lampre), Italy’s Moreno Moser (Cannondale), Dutchman Dennis van Winden (Belkin) and Japan’s Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar). The four received the go-ahead from the peloton to proceed and their lead topped at 10:42 before the bunch decided to react and reduce the gap.

While Van Winden collected points for the GPM, foliowed by Arashiro, the break was reined in after 140 km as the peloton raised the tempo, led by teams Orica Greenedge, Garmin Sharp and BMC. 

As attacks multiplied, eleven riders quickly emerged after the junction. They were Rafael Valls, Sebastien Minard, Nikki Sorensen, Valerio Agnoli, Brent Bookwalter, Jonathan Hivert, Jens Keukeleire, Ramunas Navardauskas, Steele Von Hoff, Kevin Reza and Michael Woods. 
They were later joined by Jan Bakelants, Matteo Trentin, Enrico Gasparotto and Tim  Wellens. 

But the group never managed to build a gap of over 20 seconds and they were run down at the foot of the last ascent of the Cote de la Potasse as the favorites started to move. 

World champion Rui Costa and Belgium’s Jelle Vanendert briefly tried their luck, followed by Tejay Van Garderen, but they soon hit their limits like Frenchman Bryan Coquard, second in the previous day’s Challenge Sprint Pro.  

Tom Dumoulin’s attack was blistering but Gerrans was keeping a close watch and played it to perfection in the last 150 metres to win in commanding fashion.

The ambitious Australian made it clear he was now targeting the Grand Prix de Montreal on Sunday, in which he will be a logical favorite.  

"I still have two major goals before the end of the season: Montreal on Sunday and the world championships in two weeks."

AUS 1 GERRANS, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE) 4:42:54
NED 2 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT-SHIMANO)
LTU 3 NAVARDAUSKAS, Ramunas (GARMIN SHARP)
RSA 4 IMPEY, Daryl (ORICA GreenEDGE)
BEL 5 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING)
BEL 6 MEERSMAN, Gianni (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP)
BEL 7 VANMARCKE, Sep (BELKIN)
ITA 8 GASPAROTTO, Enrico (ASTANA)
FRA 9 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO BELISOL)
NED 10 MOLLEMA, Bauke (BELKIN)
NED 11 SLAGTER, Tom Jelte (GARMIN SHARP)
ITA 12 GAVAZZI, Francesco (ASTANA)
ESP 13 HERRADA LOPEZ, Jesus (MOVISTAR)
ITA 14 FORMOLO, Davide (CANNONDALE)
FRA 15 GAUTIER, Cyril (EUROPCAR)
AUT 16 PREIDLER, Georg (GIANT-SHIMANO)
ITA 17 MARCATO, Marco (CANNONDALE)
GER 18 GESCHKE, Simon (GIANT-SHIMANO)
BEL 19 BAKELANTS, Jan (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP)
AUS 20 SUTTON, Christopher (SKY) + 7
NOR 21 KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA)
GBR 22 YATES, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE)
SLO 23 BOZIC, Borut (ASTANA)
FRA 24 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
GER 25 WEGMANN, Fabian (GARMIN SHARP)
RSA 26 JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Reinardt (GIANT-SHIMANO)
CAN 27 ANDERSON, Ryan (CANADA)
FRA 28 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP)
DEN 29 BRESCHEL, Matti (TINKOFF-SAXO)
ITA 30 VILLELLA, Davide (CANNONDALE) + 12
AUS 31 TANNER, David (BELKIN)
CZE 32 VAKOC, Petr (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 18
POR 33 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA)
BEL 34 VANENDERT, Jelle (LOTTO BELISOL) + 22
USA 35 HOWES, Alex (GARMIN SHARP) + 27
USA 36 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING) + 29
LUX 37 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING)
NED 38 KRUIJSWIJK, Steven (BELKIN)
ITA 39 SALERNO, Cristiano (CANNONDALE) + 34
USA 40 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 39