Montréal on Sunday

I started cursing again when a group of top guys which included 3 UAE and Seixas🇫🇷 took off and was offered a 30-40 seconds gap over a sulking Evenepoel🇧🇪, but only took half-relays, so that the Belgian could come back.

Luckily, in the main climb of the next turn, Seixas🇫🇷 accelerated again and then, less expectedly, launched a nuclear attack. Only Del Toro🇲🇽 managed to join him on the top of the hill. Behind there was a group of 4 and Evenepoel🇧🇪 was relegated in another group of 4 behind, which allowed the Franco-Mexican duo to gain some 45 seconds, and therefore secure the first two places of the race.

Seixas🇫🇷 tried another acceleration in a minor climb, but Del Toro🇲🇽 followed his wheel easy-peasy. The Frenchman performed a ridiculous rookie mistake in the two-man sprint he approached in 1^st^ position, as he didn't notice the Mexican had started sprinting before he was passed him: by the time Seixas🇫🇷 reacted and gained speed, Del Toro🇲🇽 was already at least 5 bike lengths ahead 😄

The Mexican's race has nothing to do with how he was just 2 days ago. UAE is really acting strange on those races; well, they are also acting very weirdly in Italy...

Commendable performance by the retiree and team-less Michael Woods (🇨🇦 Canadian selection), who was still present when the 'peloton' was reduced to less than 20 riders! 👏 👏 👏

He didn't collapse later either, as I see he finished in this range of positions. Many active professionals riders on this race cannot tell the same...

First FDJ rider is Braz, 24^th^. He was in the severe crash that happened about 40 km from the line. It took a fair time before he could stand up, fix his bike and restart. Meanwhile there were 3 breakaway guys, very honest riders, who were giving all they had, and a decent chase by the peloton, and neither could either enlarge or reduce the small gap there was: none were musing. And yet, pow! he was back in the peloton, solo or with a teammate. I found that really suspicious.

Perhaps there will be a fine or penalty, we shall see. Or perhaps it was magic.

Québec tomorrow Friday

I came when there was something like 45 km to go. I kept on cursing at the TV until after the line.

1. A bunch of idiots didn't relay after they had dropped Evenepoel in the climb.
2. A bunch of idiots let Evenepoel go 'alone' (with 3 riders + Bettiol who was ahead) on the flat.
3. This new bunch of idiots relayed Evenepoel, who dropped them one after another as laps passed.
4. The bunch of idiots behind let one single Visma rider do all the job, despite the presence of several domestiques from other teams.
5. Despite the fact that this rider had managed to keep the gap very small (10-15 seconds), that bunch of idiots then stopped everything (as it happens often on this race).
6. The only idiot remaining with the Belgian at the front waited until Evenepoel arrived at the exact distance he needed to place his usual acceleration that always brings the Belgian to the line.

Matthews (🇦🇺 Jayco), 6^th^, is probably the rider who optimised his (own and team) ressource the best. For example, when he felt a climb could be decisive, he would come at the front of group, so that he had the margin to go backwards if it was going too fast for him. This is his 10^th^ top-10 in 10 starts here! This is his race! 👍👍👍

(The Charmig case is disputable, as I consider him lucky to finish on the podium, thanks to both S. Simmons blowing up after his intense solo effort on the flat, and the idiocy of the group behind him).

UAE came as tourists (and Del Toro🇲🇽 wasn't good). But they often come as tourists here, to prepare for the Sunday race.

Seixas (🇫🇷 Decathlon) made many wrongly timed choice. It's Lapeira🇫🇷 who managed to to detach in a group of 4 or 5 in the final lap when, to save a little bit of the race for the race.

FDJ couldn't ride like idiots, as they never had anyone in the front groups 👍👍👍 🤣

I think it was Ayuso (🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek) who managed to crash in the sprint for the umpteenth place 🙄