Julian Alaphilippe produces fireworks to win thriller in Québec

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) delivered one of the finest victories of the 2025 season with a swashbuckling performance at the GP Québec.

Alaphilippe showed why he is a former two-time world champion in an attritional race which was very reminiscent of those major battles for the rainbow bands.

The 33-year-old formed part of a strong group of riders who surged clear from the peloton with around 70km remaining, and made his race-winning move on the final ascent of the Côte de la Montagne with 1.5km remaining, distancing Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana), who ended second and third, respectively. 

World champion Tadej Pogačar was also combative in the finale, launching an attack on the Côte de la Montagne, but he couldn’t bridge across to the front of the race. 

For Alaphilippe, this success marks the first win in over a year, his last success coming on stage 4 of the Czech Tour in July 2024, and his first WorldTour-level victory since stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia in May 2024.

“Honestly, I need some time to realise what I’ve done today. It’s a race I’ve always wanted to win. To win in the way I won today was great, my team did great work as well," said Alaphilippe in his post-race interview.

Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Filip Maciejuk (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Philippe Jacob and Félix Bouchard (Canada) formed the day’s breakaway from the opening kilometre, and at its strongest, their advantage was over six minutes. Jacob was distanced with 85km remaining on the Côte de la Montagne, leaving three riders at the front.

With just over 80km remaining, a strong group of riders forged clear of the peloton, including Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Pascal Eenkhoorn and Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep), Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ), Jacob Eriksson (Tudor), and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).

However, the group lacked cooperation and were reeled in, as more attacks were launched from the excited peloton and eventually a group of five riders drew themselves clear, including Nils Politt, (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), with Visma prominent in the chase behind.

With 50km to go, the breakaway trio held a 1:50 advantage over the chasers with the peloton at 2:45. Meurisse pushed on from the chase group on the Côte de la Montagne with 48.5km remaining as Wellens attacked from the peloton behind with Simmons on his wheel, before a counterattack from Artem Schmidt (Ineos).

Schmidt’s attack drew out Alberto Bettiol and Anthon Charmig (XDS Astana), Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious), and this group bridged across to the chasers. Pithie and Politt were distanced from the chase group on the Côte de la Montagne with 37km remaining, while Bouchard was shortly distanced beforehand on the climb from the front duo, who eventually were caught by the chasers.

With 30km to go, the front group held 1:15 over a peloton still spearheaded by Visma | Lease a Bike, along with EF Education-EasyPost, and Israel-Premier Tech.

Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla) launched from the peloton on the Côte de la Montagne with 25km remaining, which thinned out the peloton, with the group reswelling in size over the summit.

On the penultimate ascent, Charming set things up for a Bettiol attack, while UAE launched Pogačar into the foot of the climb, and the world champion exploded into action with a vicious attack. Biniam Girmay, Jonas Abrahamsen, and Paul Lapeira were able to respond to the World Champion on the climb, whilst 

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Axel Laurance (Ineos) bridged across over the crest, with McNulty driving the pace for Pogačar, with the group still 20 seconds behind the leaders.

With 4km remaining, McNulty, Powless and Girmay rolled off the front of the Pogačar group, with the World Champion sitting up and the peloton sweeping up the World Champion and co.

Bettiol and Alaphilippe attacked from the front group shortly before the final climb, with Sivakov latching on, as McNulty, Powless and Girmay were also collected by the peloton in the chase before the climb.

Alaphilippe launched a trademark move which looked to blow Bettiol and Sivakov out of the water with 1.5km remaining, and held on to victory despite a late charge from the duo.

Skjelmose, Mohorič, Hermans and Charmig held off the peloton, for 4th to 7th respectively, whilst Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) won the sprint from behind for 8th.