Peter Sagan (Cannondale) took a resounding win in Montréal on Sunday confirming his status as a pre-race favourite for the road race at the World Championships in Florence in two weeks. Rather than wait for the sprint, Sagan launched a decisive attack over the Cote de la Polytechnique with 5.5km left to race. The Slovakian held off his chasers wake to solo to victory.

Simone Ponzi (Astana) bested Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Sharp) in a two up sprint for second place 4” behind Sagan while Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) won the sprint for fourth place from a chase group of eight. Pieter Weening was the top finisher for ORICA-GreenEDGE, crossing the finish line in 32nd place at 26”.

“With the legs that Pieter and Albasini have, we were hoping for a better result. The attack by Albasini was part of our plan. Normally the best climbers attack on the last time up Mount Royal and Polytechnque. We knew it would be hard for Albasini to stay in the group if he started the climb in the bunch. His attack was his chance to have a little bit of a head start when the moves happened, but it didn’t work out for him. 

"With Québec and Montreal, I see an aggressive team that missed the results. The guys that are racing the Worlds are well prepared. They may not be the favourites for the win, but they can be there at the end of the race.” - Sport Director Laurenzo Lapage