Benoît Cosnefroy emerges victorious at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
Benoît Cosnefroy, of the AG2R CITROËN team, claimed a thrilling victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. Despite his initial doubts, Cosnefroy executed a perfectly timed attack and managed to hold off the competition in the final kilometers.
“It’s incredible! I can’t believe it. I had exactly planned to attack at that point. If it didn’t work out, we had Greg Van Avermaet to do the sprint. I’m very happy because I didn’t necessarily expect to resist like that in the last two kilometers. I gave it my all and was able to savor the last fifty meters,” said an elated Cosnefroy.
This victory marks a turning point in Cosnefroy’s season, which has been characterized by several near-misses. With six second-place finishes, including the prestigious Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Brabançonne, this win was the missing piece in Cosnefroy’s exceptional season.
Vincent Lavenu, team manager of AG2R CITROËN, praised Cosnefroy’s audacious attack: “By holding out against the best riders in the world in the final kilometers, he achieved a sporting feat of the highest order. This performance is a notch above his victory at the Bretagne Classic in 2021. It places him among the strongest of the international peloton.”
With this win, Cosnefroy secures his second UCI World Tour victory, the first of which was at the Bretagne Classic in 2021. Notably, this is also his first victory outside of France. The AG2R CITROËN team rejoices in their eleventh triumph of the season.
Greg Van Avermaet, the defending champion of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, finished in thirteenth place. Determined to reclaim his title, he will now shift his focus to the upcoming Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.
In other news, Ben O’Connor remains in eighth place overall at the Vuelta a España. The AG2R CITROËN team is eager to fight for a higher position in the classification and hopes to achieve their objectives in the remaining stages. “There’s still a battle to be fought to try to claw back one or two places in the overall classification and try to raise our arms in order to validate the objectives of the AG2R CITROËN team at the start of this Vuelta a Espana,” stated Julien Jurdie, sports director of the team.
