Tadej Pogacar outsprints Wout van Aert at GP de Montréal

The second Canadian classic, the GP de Montréal, has seen a very exciting finale as five riders wen clear in the final hills, Tadej Pogacar outsprinted Wout van Aert to win ahead of the World Championships

The race saw an early breakaway of five riders;  Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM), Antoine Duchesne (Groupama - FDJ), Théo Delacroix (Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) and Antonio Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan Team).

They got a modest gap, but never threatened the peloton behind.

The Norwegian Leknessund was the strongest, and went clear with 48 kilometersto go in an attempt to solo tothe finish after winning the Arctic Race of Norway recently. Behind, UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma slowly brought the gap down, dropping several riders who couldn't keep up.

Until the penultimate climb no-one could attack, shortly after, with 21 kilometers to go, Cristian Scaroni and Frederik Wandahl attacked and opened a gap of over 35 seconds.

On the final ascent, Daniel Martínez set off but soon after Tadej Pogacar attacked, followed by Wout van Aert and Andrea Bagioli. Before the summit Adam Yates bridged across and attacked, alongside David Gaudu, with Van Aert starting to struggle to hold the wheels.

Several attacks behind failed to close the gap to the five leaders. On the final climb, both Adam Yates and David Gaudu went all-out, but Wout van Aert managed to control both attacks.

Into the finalc sprint, Gaudu sprinted early, behind Tadej Pogacar closed the gap. It was a big move, and the uphill gradients favoured the Slovenian, who held on to beat Wout van Aert and Andrea Bagioli on the line.

VIDEO: 2022 Gran Prix de Montreal Highlights

2022 GP de Montreal Top 10

01 SLO Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates 05:59:38
02 BEL Wout van Aert Jumbo-Visma + 00
03 ITA Andrea Bagioli Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team + 00
04 GBR Adam Yates INEOS Grenadiers + 00
05 FRA David Gaudu Groupama-FDJ + 00
06 SUI Mauro Schmid Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team + 22
07 ITA Giovanni Aleotti BORA-hansgrohe + 22
08 FRA Romain Bardet Team DSM + 22
09 ESP Pello Bilbao Bahrain Victorious + 28
10 FRA Warren Barguil Team Arkéa-Samsic + 31