The WorldTour heads to Canada for two rounds of one-day events held in Quebec City and Montreal, respectively, on September 9 and 11 in the province of Quebec. They are two unique, punchy races on the late-season calendar that typically present unpredictable outcomes, swing toward either the sprinters or the climbers.
Riders arrived in Quebec City on Wednesday, many of them having recently completed the Tour of Alberta. Event organisers hosted an annual pre-race press conference for the top riders and teams at the arrivals entrance of the local airport.
The press met with current world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), who will head a strong line-up at this year’s races. He was joined joined by Olympic gold medallist Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Tour de France runner-up Romian Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).
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Riders to watch over the two days of racing defending champions Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale), who won in Quebec City, and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), who won in Montreal.
But the start lines are both packed with potential winners like Michael Matthews and Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange), Tom Boonen and Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep), Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), Mike Woods (Cannondale), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), second overall in Alberta, and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) in the mix.
As one of the last WorldTour events of the season, with Eneco Tour held from Sept 19-25 and Il Lombardia on October 1, Sagan confirmed that he will be chasing points to keep his lead in the series standings. He currently leads with 445 points, while Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) sits in second with 407 and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) is in third with 396. Froome and Quintana, however, are currently competing at the Vuelta a Espana. Sagan also leads the UCI world ranking ahead of Froome and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
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