Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal 2019: Favourites

The organisation added two extra laps to the circuit to make it even more testing. Until last year the route comprised sixteen laps. Obviously, the addition injects the race with more vertical metres, which will make it harder for sprinters – such as title defender Michael Matthews – to turn out on top. The Grand Prix de Montréal becomes a race similar to Il Lombardia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The circuit is 12.2 kilometres long and each lap features 263 vertical metres, so the entire route takes in 4,734 vertical metres. Three climbs stand out. Firstly, the Côte Camillien-Houde: 1.8 kilometres at 8%. Secondly, the Côte de la Polytechnique: 780 metres at 6%. And the last uphill is the Claude-Champagne climb, only 800 metres long and with its 4% gradient certainly not the hardest climb in the world. But it is likely to serve as a launchpad in the finale, or a place to shake off your breakaway rivals. The riders fly down a 2.4 kilometres metres descent to the U-turn on Avenue du Parc. After almost coming to a standstill the last 560 metres slope at 4%.

Obviously, these three hills are tackled eighteen times, so the Grand Prix de Montréal takes in a dizzying amount of 54 climbs.

Favourites Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal 2019

*** Julian Alaphilippe, Tim Wellens, Michal Kwiatkowski
** Bauke Mollema, Vincenzo Nibali, Pello Bilbao, Adam Yates, Michael Woods
* Michael Matthews, Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet, Matej Mohoric, Marc Hirschi