Rui Alberto Faria da Costa wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal 2011 - Cycling News
Movistar team’s Rui Alberto Faria da Costa showed his powerful skills and out-paced the three breakaway riders to take the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal 2011 on Sunday, September 11.
The race started and finished in Montreal. The 24-year-old Portuguese professional road bicycle racer took a total of 5 hours, 20 minutes and 18 seconds to cover the distance of 205.7 kilometres.
After finishing the stage, Costa said, “This is a very important victory because it is a WorldTour win. The Tour win was also a special victory, obviously, because the Tour is the Tour and that is the biggest race that you can win at. But, I felt really
strong today and I think I had a really strong team.”
Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) was in runner-up spot with the same timing as Costa. Omega Pharma-Lotto team’s Philippe Gilbert who won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec tried his best to take a lead and launched an attacked but failed to hold his pace. He grabbed
third spot with a difference of 2 seconds.
Recently, Costa also took the eighth stage of Tour de France and also grabbed the overall first place in Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid.
With eight kilometres to go, the two cyclists made a move including Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) and Stefan Denifl. While after 2.3 kilometres, the three cyclists made their breakaway lead including, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervélo), Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel Euskadi)
and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and made a gap of 17 seconds.
In the final kilometers, the trio failed to maintain their pace and Costa increased his speed and crossed the finished line ahead of the other cyclists.
Ryder Hesjedal (Team Garmin-Cervelo) tried to take the lead and launched an attacked but failed and secured 11th place ahead of Gerald Ciolek and Cyril Gautier.
Hesjedal said, "I can’t say that I am disappointed to race here in Canada, Quebec City and Montreal. For me, it is a very important part of the season."
Many cyclists including Maarten Wynants (Rabobank Cycling Team), Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin-Cervelo) and Maarten Neyens (Omega Pharma-Lotto) were disqualified.
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