BOIVIN TOP CANADIAN IN QUEBEC WORLDTOUR RACE

(Quebec, QC – September 9, 2016) Team Canada’s Guillaume Boivin (Montreal, Quebec) was the top Canadian finisher on Friday at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec, taking 17th place in the field sprint, won by world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) of Slovakia.

Boivin is in his first race back after three months of injury, suffering a broken shoulder in June before the National Road Championships, and then requiring 13 stitches to his knee following a training accident three weeks ago.

The 16 lap, 201.6 kilometre WorldTour race, saw a group of eight riders break away from the peloton on the first lap. Included in the group was Team Canada rider Nicolas Masbourian (Quebec City, Quebec). The group managed to carve out a lead of over five minutes before the top teams started to pull them back. The last members of the group, including Masbourian, were caught with just under three laps to go.

Sagan surged to the front in the final 50 metres to beat Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet (BMC) of Belgium and Anthony Roux (FDJ) of France. Boivin finished in a small group just five seconds back.

“This race is one of the hardest races in the season,” said Boivin. “I had a pretty good ten days of training [after his crash], and I thought I felt not too bad. But training and racing are different beasts, so it is hard to know how your form is. With four laps to go I was feeling pretty good, and just to be here was a bit of a miracle, so I’m definitely happy with the result. Hopefully I can build on that for world championships in mid-October.”

The teams will travel tomorrow morning to Montreal to take part in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sunday.