Québec Race Report: Remco Evenepoel made a winning return to racing at the 2026 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, beating Giulio Ciccone in a two-man sprint after a fast and furious finale in the Canadian city. Anthon Charmig completed the podium after helping drive the decisive late move.
Remco Evenepoel is back—and back on the top step.
The 26-year-old Belgian won Friday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec after a lively 205-kilometre race through the historic heart of Québec City. The Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe leader proved too fast for Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone in the uphill sprint on Avenue George-VI, while Uno-X Mobility’s in-form Anthon Charmig came home third.
This was Evenepoel’s first race since winning the Clásica San Sebastián, and the Olympic champion wasted no time reminding everyone what he can do when the road tilts upward and the attacks start flying.
It was also a useful look ahead. Sunday brings the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, with the World Championships following on that same Montréal circuit two weeks later.
Twenty laps and plenty of climbing
The Québec circuit may not feature one huge climb, but there is very little flat road—and the climbing quickly adds up.
Each lap packed roughly 145 metres of elevation gain. After 20 circuits, that meant close to 2,900 metres of climbing over the 205.4-kilometre race.
From Battlefields Park, the route headed along Avenue Ontario and Grande Allée Ouest before dropping toward Boulevard de Champlain. The first part of the circuit was relatively straightforward, but things became much more selective once the riders turned away from the river and headed back into the old city.
The Côte de la Montagne—600 metres with gradients reaching 13%—provided the circuit’s sharpest sting. From its summit, the riders faced little more than a kilometre to the finish, including the rising kilometre of the Montée Rue Saint-Louis before the line in the Plains of Abraham.
It is a course built for puncheurs, Classics riders and climbers with a fast finish. As the race unfolded, the strongest men certainly found their way to the front.
Attacks from the gun
Unlike many races, the GP Québec began without a neutralized rollout. The light turned green, the riders clipped in, and the attacking started immediately.
The Canadian national team was particularly keen to place someone in the day’s early move, but plenty of others had the same idea. The opening two laps produced a constant barrage of attacks before six riders finally established the break.
Nikias Arndt, Samuel Boardman, Frank van den Broek, Storm Ingebrigtsen, Lithuanian champion Aivaris Mikutis and Jonas Rutsch made up the move. Their advantage quickly grew to around three and a half minutes.
Behind, Decathlon CMA CGM, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Pinarello-Q36.5 took responsibility for controlling the gap.
Visma | Lease a Bike, meanwhile, had already suffered two setbacks. A sick Victor Campenaerts abandoned early, while Louis Barré did not start after breaking his wrist in a training crash on Thursday.
The big names begin to move
The race really began to boil with a little more than 80 kilometres remaining.
US champion Quinn Simmons was among the riders to launch a dangerous move, joined by Ben Healy, Bart Lemmen, Lennert Van Eetvelt and Maxim Van Gils.
Bahrain Victorious had missed the attack and began chasing with help from Jayco AlUla and Tudor. The escapees never gained more than 20 seconds and were pulled back after a little more than one lap.
That did nothing to calm the race.
Thymen Arensman and Tobias Foss were among the next riders to try their luck, while young American Andrew August also made a brief but unsuccessful move.
With five laps remaining, the original break had been caught and a new group of 11 riders opened a gap of roughly 30 seconds. This was a much more dangerous combination, containing Alberto Bettiol, Charmig, Ciccone, Quinten Hermans, Jhonatan Narváez, Mauro Schmid and Lemmen.
At 48 kilometres to go, their advantage stood at 45 seconds. Jan Tratnik and a strong Sam Oomen went to work behind for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek.
The finale was set.
Seixas lights the fuse
With 42.5 kilometres remaining, Paul Seixas blew the race apart.
The young Frenchman’s acceleration drew out an impressive group including Simmons, Van Gils, Healy, Juan Ayuso, Matteo Jorgenson and Tom Pidcock.
Evenepoel initially missed the move, but that hardly seemed to matter. The Belgian powered across on the flatter section of the climb to the finish and then continued driving with Healy once they reached the line.
The chase was moving—and moving fast.
Only three kilometres after Seixas made his move, the attackers had erased what had been a 45-second advantage for the leaders.
Bettiol was the next to go. The Italian slipped away in his familiar aggressive style and spent around seven kilometres alone before Evenepoel, Ciccone, Charmig and Alessandro Pinarello bridged across.
Pinarello was soon dropped, and Bettiol also paid for his earlier effort. That left Evenepoel, Ciccone and Charmig at the front as the race entered its final lap.
Three riders left to fight for the win
The chasers were only around 20 seconds behind, but there was precious little cooperation.
Pidcock and Seixas tried to force the issue, while Simmons launched another attack with approximately seven kilometres remaining. It was an unusual move with his Lidl-Trek teammate Ciccone sitting at the front, but the American committed himself fully.
Simmons closed to within 15 seconds, but the leading trio held firm.
At the foot of the final climb, with two kilometres remaining, Evenepoel made his move. Charmig was immediately in trouble, but Ciccone stayed glued to the Belgian’s wheel.
The two leaders came onto the finishing straight together, setting up a long, uphill sprint.
Evenepoel led it out from the front. Ciccone dug deep and tried to come around, but never looked likely to pass. The Belgian powered across the line to take his first victory at the GP Québec, succeeding recently retired Julian Alaphilippe on the race’s roll of honour.
Charmig held on for a fine third place.
PEZ Takeaway
Evenepoel didn’t just win—he won with authority.
He missed one of the key late moves, closed the gap himself, helped wipe out a dangerous 45-second advantage and still had enough left to control Ciccone in the uphill sprint.
For a first race back after San Sebastián, it was quite a statement. Next stop Montréal—and then, on the same roads two weeks later, the World Championships.
Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec 2026 Video Finale
Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec 2026 Results
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