June 16/23 22:24 pm - Carson Miles Conquers Megantic, Bouchard Into Yellow
Posted by Editoress on 06/16/23
Once again, the Mont Megantic stage shook up the standings at Tour de Beauce on Friday. Carson Miles (Toronto Hustle) took a strong win on the Queen stage of the race, with Felix Bouchard finishing just a few seconds behind, and moving into the Yellow Jersey of race leader, as well as Best Young Rider. Luke Valenti (Ecoflo Chronos) made it a Canadian sweep of the podium. Indeed, Canadian riders took 12 of the top 15 spots for the stage, and hold all of the top five GC positions.
While the 169 kilometre Mont Megantic stage is dominated by the final five kilometre ascent to the finish line, it is extremely hard even without the finish climb. There are four other categorized climbs, including two times up Mont Morne, as well as constantly rolling terrain. Luckily, the forecast rain did not materialize.
The high pace of the peloton made it difficult for a break to get established, and it wasn't until roughly 40 kilometres into the race that four riders managed to sneak away - Nicolas Rivard (Ecoflo Chronos), Clovis Roy (Yoeleo Factory), Ethan Pauly (Cycling BC) and Braden Kersey (TaG Cycling). After they were joined by Eric Inkster (Cycling BC), the group seemed to jell and the gap went up quickly to over a minute by the 60 kilometre mark, then to two minutes ten kilometres later.
The lead group was shattered the first time over Mont Morne, but regrouped on the descent, with the peloton content to ride tempo at two minutes down. The second time over Morne they lost Clovis Roy, and Pauly had to chase back after a mechanical halfway up the climb.
With the race now pointed towards Megantic, the chase got much more aggressive, with Project Echelon joining Storck and Ecoflo Chronos at the front. The gap was still 2:10 with 39 kilometres to go, but it was only Rivard and Inkster remaining at the front. At 20 kilometres to go the gap was holding at 1:40, and at 15 kilometres it was 1:10, but the peloton started to quickly pull them back at that point, and the catch was made three kilometres from the base of the climb.
Miles had an ace in the hole - 2017 Megantic stage winner and Toronto Hustle team mate Matteo Dal-Cin went to the front on the base of the climb - one of the steepest sections - and set tempo for Miles for the first part of the climb, setting the stage for Miles to launch off the front of the dwindling group. Only Bouchard was able to go with Miles, and he struggled with the pace set by the current Canadian Under-23 road champion.
Tyler Stites (Project Echelon) managed to briefly make contact with the two leaders but quickly fell off the pace again. Luke Valenti (Ecoflo Chronos) rode his own pace up the climb, overtaking those who went out too hard to move into third ahead of Lars Quadvlieg (Universe). At the line, Miles up the tempo slightly to roll in two seconds in front of Bouchard, with Valenti at ten seconds. Stage 1 leader Matisse Julien (Ecoflo Chronos) could only manage eighth at 56 seconds, and Stage 2 winner (and Yellow Jersey) Cormac McGeough (EC Makadence Primeau Velo) was 21st, almost two and a half minutes back.
Going into the final two stages, Bouchard leads Valenti by nine seconds, with Miles at 32 seconds. Matisse Julien hangs on to the Points Jersey, tied with Bouchard at 36 points and one ahead of Evan Russell (Cycling BC). The Climber's Jersey goes to Inkster, a reward for his long day off the front.
"I've been preparing for this stage for over a month now," revealed Miles. "Even before we started the year ... I needed to do well here [Beauce] and this stage was a guarantee that I had a chance. Yesterday we [Toronto Hustle] didn't have the best of days, and today the guys were unbelievable, they waited for me, bottles all day ... I had to finish it off for them. It means a lot to me.
"When you are behind Matteo ... you can trust him with your life. He is so experienced, just a rock. Matteo had me second wheel going in. He did the fist 500 metres and from there I felt I just needed to do my effort. I went from bottom to top right from Matteo's wheel."
Bouchard could tell Miles was the one to follow. "I started the climb on Carson's wheel and he was very strong. We were dropping guys and I was just holding his wheel. I knew I had a chance to take the Yellow Jersey, so I said to Carson that if he paced it up to the end I would let him win. But, at the end I couldn't even stand up on my bike, I was just grinding. I'm really happy for me and the [team] for taking the Yellow Jersey. We are in good position to take the win; the guys will have to do a big job tomorrow and Sunday to keep the Yellow, but we are looking forward to it."
Tour de Beauce: Stage 3 results
Matisse Julien Sweeps the Jerseys on Stage 1 of Beauce
New Leader After Stage 2 of Tour de Beauce
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