Ottawa-native Matteo Dal-Cin of Rally Cycling took the highly coveted elite men’s Canadian road race title on Sunday by driving a two-man break away from the reduced peloton with less than 15-km of the 160 km race to go. Dal-Cin then out-sprinting Marc-Antoine Soucy (Garneau-Quebecor), who took the under-23 title, for the win. Pier-André Coté sprinted from the peloton to take the third step on the podium and second in the U23 competition. Thierry Kirouac-Mascassa of Équipe du Québec rounded out the U23 podium. “I don’t have the words to describe how I feel,” an emotional Dal-Cin said after the race.

Last year, Dal-Cin crashed leading into the final corner of the race. This year, he allowed Soucy to lead into the final corner and then sprinted around to take the win by a comfortable margin. The winning move went after a second rain storm pelted down on the riders.

“It was super hard, attack all day. At the end I saw Matteo go and I was feeling super strong so I jumped onto his wheel and we got a gap,” a cold Soucy said after the race. “I missed the leg [in the final sprint] and that was it but the U23 title is pretty good.”

Earlier in the day, the race was neutralised for about 10-minutes while a thunderstorm passed over with the race resuming once the danger had passed. By the second storm which came down on the riders with 40 km to go, only 35 riders of the 141 starters remained at the front of the race.

“It was a tough day out there. The team rode amazing, they covered everything and made sure we were represented all day long. It was amazing to pay back all that hard work with a win,” a chilled Dal-Cin said after the podium ceremony.

How the race unfolded

From the start the pace was fierce averaging 48 km/h in the first 10 km. No real moves got a gap but riders were constantly off the front trying to make a move. After 40 km of racing, Nickolas Zukowsky (Silber Pro Cycling) and Matteo Dal-Cin (Rally Cycling) had a 15-second gap but as rain started to come down the race was back together. Due to the storm, the race was neutralized with 50 km to go as thunder cracked and lightning lit up the sky.

After the race resumed. Riders desperately tried to get away from the peloton. Dal-Cin and Zukowsky continued to be amoung the most aggressive and Derrick St John (Ride with Rendall) was also active.

For the next 50 km, the racing was continuously aggressive but no breakaway was able to establish. Svein Tuft (Orica-Scott) dropped the hammer at the front of the field trying to split the race up but all it did was further reduce the front group.

The first breakaway to establish a sizable gap contained seven riders. Defending champion Bruno Langlois (Garneau-Quebecor), Rob Britton (Rally Cycling), Olivier Brisebois (Garneau-Quebecor), Derek Gee (Team RaceClean), Christopher Prendergast (H&R Block), Pierrick Naud (Rally) and Ryan Roth (Silber). It was a dangerous move that contained all the big teams. Soon after rain started picking up again and Tuft was once again at the front bringing the breakaway back. With 20 km to go, only 22 riders remained in the front group. The rain was absolutely coming down making it survival of the fittest.

With about 15 km to go, Dal-Cin and Jean-Francois Soucy (Garneau-Quebecor) broke away. This move gained time and looked promising but with 10-km to go the gap was down to 17-seconds.

It then went up to 30-seconds because of lack of cooperation in the chase group of 20 riders. Coming into the final corner. Dal-Cin let Soucy lead and soon after the pair crossed the charging peloton came into sight but it was too late.

Dal-Cin surged around Soucy coming out of the saddle and unleashing a powerful sprint to come around and win the elite title.