Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal 2017: Diego Ulissi wins five-up sprint

The Grand Prix de Montréal amounts to 205.7 kilometres, while the riders face 3,893 vertical metres. The 2017 edition is an exciting one with attacks everywhere. Eventually it boils to a five-up sprint with Diego Ulissi outpowering Jesus Herrada, Tom-Jelte Slagter, Jan Bakelants and Bauke Mollema. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 2017 Grand Prix de Montréal

1. Diego Ulissi (ita)
2. Jesús Herrada (spa) s.t.
3. Tom-Jelte Slagter (nld) s.t.
4. Jan Bakelants (bel) s.t.
5. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 0.06
6. Tony Gallopin (fra) + 0.11
7. Greg Van Avermaet (bel) + 0.16
8. Michael Matthews (aus) s.t.
9. Peter Sagan (svk) s.t.
10. Sep Vanmarcke (bel) s.t.

Race report
Home riders Benjamin Perry and Matteo Dal-Cin are the first to attack. In no time they are 6 minutes ahead of the peloton.

When a group with Démare, Vermeulen, Bak, Burke and Laeghen start to chase the gap quickly drops. Although they are brought back the peloton seems to be in hurry all of a sudden. The pack breaks and a first group of 35 riders closes in on the leaders. Small wonder: Van Avermaet, Gerrans, Matthews and Dumoulin are in the first group and they try to distance Sagan, who is in the second group. But after 53 kms, at the bottom of the Côte de la Polytechnique, the peloton reunites.

The gap bounces back up to 4 minutes before it stabilises for a while. Yet, with 90 kms left they are brought back.

Sunweb and Lotto Soudal set a high pace at the front of the pack. Still, with 60 km remaining Ian Boswell is able to go even faster and Natnael Berhane joins him. They race to a half a minute lead over a decimated peloton. Michael Albasini and Edward Ravasi bridge across, but to no avail as the front group is brought back.

A moment later Guillaume Boivin slips away, while Alberto Bertiol rejoins him to leave him behind. Gianluca Brambilla, Enrico Gasparotto, Roman Kreuziger, Lukas Postlberger, Danilo Wyss, Mathias Frank, Valerio Conti and Dylan Teuns chase them down, but they are reeled in with two laps to go.

On descent of the Côte Camillien-Houde Jan Bakelants jumps of the front of the decimated peloton. With 16 kms to go a large group with Kennaugh, Geschke, Slagter, Brambilla, Teuns, Swift, Ulissi, Gallopin, Mollema, Marcato, Pöstlberger, Herrada, Brajkovic and Bauer catch him. They are half a minute ahead of the main group with one lap left.

Mollema reduces the front group on the Côte Camillien-Houde to Slagter, Ulissi, Herrada, Gallopin and Bakelants. A group with Sagan, Dumoulin, Matthews and Van Avermaet is chasing at 15 seconds.

Gallopin goes clear with 1.5 kms remaining. He makes the U-turn to the final drag up to the line with a small lead, which is not enough. The chasers take him back shortly before Ulissi wins the race ahead of Herrada and Slagter.