A front-row starting position, cheers from the sizeable crowd every time they saw the national champion’s jersey, and good legs showing little sign of post-Vuelta fatigue: the only thing missing for Mike Woods at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sunday was the podium finish he and IPT arguably deserved.
Woods finished eighth in the season’s second Canadian UCI WorldTour one-day race, with teammate Jakob Fuglsang placing 16th after both were in the group that contested the sprint for third place.
“This race is always one of my biggest objectives of the season and it’s basically my home race as home is not far away,” says Woods. “So, I am proud of 8th place. I was strong, I tried multiple times.
“Maybe the only reason I have a sting of disappointment is because there was so much support from the crowds, so much love, so I really wanted to honor that. I felt it throughout the course, everyone was cheering my name and giving me amazing support.”
However, looking at the bigger picture, there were plenty of positives from an unrelenting edition of the 209.1-kilometer race, most notably that Woods and Fuglsang were in podium contention after UAE Team Emirates took control late on to set up Tadej Pogačar for the victory.
Fuglsang had a late attack in his bid for third place shut down by Julian Alaphilippe (SOQ), while Woods led out the sprint approaching the line. They were backed up by a strong team performance, most notably from Hugo Houle, whose continued to dig deep in support of the team’s leaders on home soil late on into the race.
Fuglsang says: “I am really happy with my performance today as I rode a good race. It was a fast day as everyone knew that UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar would try to make it hard, which they did. With two laps to go, he went solo and nobody could follow.
“Our plan was to support Mike and hope that he could be there and maybe even with Pogi, but we ended up in a group behind. I think we were probably the strongest guys there. We tried to attack many times but it kept coming back and we didn’t manage to get away and in the end, it came to a sprint from quite a large group for third place.”
This performance in Canada continued Fuglsang’s strong second half of the 2024 season. Having impressed in support of Derek Gee at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, his experience proved invaluable during the Canadian’s GC bid at the Tour de France. He hopes to take this form into the final month of the season.
“I had quite a bad spring but since then, I have gone back to the way of training I know and what has worked for me in the past,” Fuglsang adds. “I could do a really good Tour de France and now I’ll try to ride with his form until the end of the season.”
Woods reiterated Fuglsang’s comments, especially as he looks towards the UCI World Championships road race in Zurich on Sunday September 29.
He adds: “I think I was one of the best climbers today so that gives me confidence for the World Champs in two weeks. As a team, we were a strong unit. It was great to see Jakob being aggressive and at the pointy end of the race again, almost back to his best. So it was great to see him there helping me in the final.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get the result I wanted but I can’t be too upset with 8th place and also, just how I animated the race. I think I was on the attack a lot so it gives me confidence for the final races of the season.”
