By Canadian Press

Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal falls just short of winning Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal

Sep 11, 2016 | 2:00 PM

MONTREAL — Ryder Hesjedal was in it until the final lap but it wasn’t enough to win his final cycling race in Canada with stars like Greg Van Avermaet and Peter Sagan in the pack.

Van Avermaet, the 2016 Olympic champion, won the 205.7-kilometre Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal just ahead of defending world road race champion Sagan on Sunday in cool, windy weather in five hours 27 minutes four seconds — seven minutes slower than last year’s winning time.

The 35-year-old Hesjedal came in 19th, five seconds off the winner, to take top Canadian honours. But the Victoria racer, the only Canadian ever to win one of cycling’s grand tours when he took the Giro d’Italia in 2012, had a brief go in the head of the pack on the last of the 17, 12.1-kilometre laps to the thrill of the crowds lining the circuit.

“It was the best I’ve felt on the bike since May,” said Hesjedal, who will retire at the end of the season. “I’m just grateful for feeling good out there and not suffering.

“I had a good time. I did what I thought I needed to do for the race and I couldn’t ask for more than that. If you think you can best Peter and Van Avermaet and (third place Diego Ulissi) in a sprint to be on the podium, that’s a tough call. I’ve been on the podium a couple of times here. I got my little bit. First Canadian, I’m not sure what it means, but it was nice to stand up there and take it all in one more time.”

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Hesjedal came third in the inaugural Montreal race, which goes up and down Mount Royal in the centre of the city, in 2010 and was third again in 2013 when Sagan won. His accomplishments on the bike also include a fifth-place finish at the 2010 Tour de France. He started out in mountain biking, in which he competed for Canada at the 2004 Olympics. 

In Montreal, several riders attacked on the final lap, including a long attempt from 2011 champion Rui Costa of Portugal, but a chasing group of riders from several different teams caught him in time to set up a mass final sprint.

“We worked together on the final lap,” said Sagan. “We had to catch Rui on the last kilometre. Then it was a sprint to the finish.”

Sagan won a Grand Prix race two days earlier in Quebec City just ahead of Van Avermaet in a dominant performance from two of the world’s top one-day riders, although neither likes his chances at the world championships next month in Qatar where sprint specialists are expected to dominate.

The Quebec City and Montreal events are the only UCI WorldTour races in North America. They were an ideal setting for Hesjedal’s farewell to his home fans, racing against a top-class international field with fans cheering and calling out his name throughout the race. He had performed in his final stage race last week at the Tour of Alberta.

“It was an incredible day — an incredible two days of racing,” said Hesjedal. “It’s unique on the calendar.

“It’s always been special to me but, this year, more so. The last time.”

He plans to enter four more races in Europe, including his career finale at the Tour of Lombardy in Italy, the last of the five one-day classics called the “monuments,” on Oct. 1.

After that, he has no specific plans other than to ride for fun. He still has an annual mass participation event at home called Ryder Hesjedal’s Tour of Victoria.

“It’s about finishing this year and looking at what’s out there after,” he said. “I’m still a professional bike racer for another month.

“I’ll enjoy that and then look down the road.”

It was also a big day for 22-year-old Ben Perry of St. Catharines, Ont. He and Team Canada teammate Matteo Dal-Cin of Ottawa were among six riders to provide the early entertainment as they broke away on the first lap and took a nearly six-minute lead. The lead group had dwindled to four when it was caught with two laps to go, but Perry picked up enough points to take the top climber award.

“For us, exposure like getting in the breakaway and winning the KOM (king of the mountain) was really big for our team,” said Perry, the three-time Canadian under-23 champion. “Dal-Cin helped me out so much.

“We probably would have lasted one lap less without Matteo out there. You can’t expect me to compete with the Olympic and world champions, so we have to set more realistic goals.”

Nigel Ellsay of Courtenay, B.C., who was injured in a crash in Quebec City, did not start, leaving Team Canada with only seven riders.

Australian Mathew Hayman of the Orica squad also missed the race with an illness. Hayman, the 2006 Commonwealth Games champion from Australia, won the most famous of cycling’s one-day races in April — the Paris-Roubaix.

Bill Beacon, The Canadian Press