Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec

Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec is a men's WorldTour one-day bike race held each September in Québec City, Canada. The race runs on a short urban circuit that climbs the steep Côte de la Montagne into the old city on every lap and finishes uphill in Battlefields Park.

The Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec is a one-day WorldTour race on a city circuit above the St. Lawrence River, first held in 2010. Every lap climbs the Côte de la Montagne into the old walled city. Michael Matthews has won it three times in sprints, and attackers such as Julian Alaphilippe have beaten the sprinters.

Québec and Montréal bring the ProTour to North America in 2010

The Québec race and its partner in Montréal were first held in September 2010. They were the first ProTour races in North America. Serge Arsenault, a former sports journalist, led the organization, and for the first races he chartered an aircraft to fly the riders, their teams and their equipment from Paris to Québec City. The organizers invited Canada’s national team from the start, and it was still in the field in 2026.

Thomas Voeckler won the first edition, over 189 kilometers. A five-rider move that included Ryder Hesjedal, the home favorite, had just been caught when Voeckler attacked in the last 800 meters. He finished one second ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen and Robert Gesink, with Hesjedal fourth. “There were fifteen laps and I had plenty of time to memorize that last climb. I knew exactly where I should attack and that is what I did,” Voeckler said.

Côte de la Montagne and the old Québec circuit

The circuit used through 2024 was 12.6 kilometers long and started and finished on the Grande Allée. It dropped to the river, followed Boulevard Champlain along the water and turned back up into the old city. The first climb was the Côte de la Montagne, 375 meters at an average of 10 percent, with 165 meters at 13 percent inside it. The Côte de la Potasse, 420 meters at 9 percent, and the Montée de la Fabrique, 190 meters at 7 percent, followed within two kilometers. The final kilometer, by way of Rue Saint-Louis and the Grande Allée, rose at an average of 4 percent to the line.

Sixteen laps made 201.6 kilometers and 2,976 meters of climbing. The uphill finish came after all three climbs, and most of the winners were fast finishers who could get over them.

Michael Matthews wins three times in Québec

Simon Gerrans won in 2012 and 2014, and Peter Sagan in 2016 and 2017. In 2014 Gerrans became the first rider to win in Québec and Montréal in the same year.

Matthews had been second in 2015 and third in 2017 when he won the sprint on the Grande Allée in 2018, with Greg Van Avermaet second for the fourth time. Later that week he won in Montréal as well. In 2019 Alaphilippe attacked on the last climb with just over two kilometers to go and took Sagan and Van Avermaet with him. The group was caught inside the final kilometer, and Matthews beat both of them in the sprint.

He was third in 2023 behind Arnaud De Lie, who took his first WorldTour win at 21, and Corbin Strong. In 2024 he started his sprint early on the same uphill finish and held off Biniam Girmay and Rudy Molard. That made him the first rider to win the race three times.

Benoît Cosnefroy’s solo win in 2022

The race was not held in 2020 or 2021 because of the pandemic. When it returned in 2022, Benoît Cosnefroy attacked on the Côte de la Potasse on the last lap, just outside two kilometers from the line. His lead was a second or two at first, and he held it over the Montée de la Fabrique and along the Grande Allée. He won by four seconds from Matthews and Girmay, with Wout van Aert fourth after Jumbo-Visma had led the chase for him. “I was under-23 world champion but this is even bigger for me,” Cosnefroy said.

The finish moves to the Plains of Abraham in 2025

In 2025 the organizers moved the finish off the Grande Allée and into Battlefields Park, on Avenue George VI on the Plains of Abraham. The Potasse and Fabrique climbs were dropped. The Côte de la Montagne stayed and now came just over one kilometer from the line. The new finish is uphill, 300 meters after a 90-degree left turn off Rue Saint-Louis. The race grew to 18 laps of a 12-kilometer circuit, 216 kilometers in all.

In 2026 the lap was cut to 10.3 kilometers by removing a section through the Montcalm neighborhood. The riders climbed the Côte de la Montagne 20 times in 206 kilometers.

Alaphilippe and Evenepoel win from attacks on the new circuit

The first two editions on the new finish, in 2025 and 2026, both went to attackers. In 2025 Alaphilippe joined a move that went clear with 75 kilometers to go. With Pavel Sivakov and Alberto Bettiol he reached the last ascent of the Côte de la Montagne 22 seconds ahead of the peloton. Alaphilippe went clear with 1.5 kilometers left and won alone, his first victory for the Tudor team. Tadej Pogačar, in his first race since the Tour de France, attacked late and was caught before the final climb. De Lie won the bunch sprint for eighth place, ahead of Matthews.

In 2026 Remco Evenepoel attacked with Giulio Ciccone and Anthon Charmig over the last three laps and was never far ahead of a reduced peloton. Evenepoel beat Ciccone in a two-rider sprint, and Charmig held on for third ahead of Tom Pidcock. Matthews, looking for a fourth win, finished sixth.

This is circuit racing at its most tactical. The route loops between the St. Lawrence River and the upper town, with the steep Côte de la Montagne on every lap, forcing riders into constant positioning battles. The race rewards those who can read the rhythm of repeated accelerations and stay alert through technical descents. It sits late in the season and often serves as a tune-up for the World Championships, which adds an edge of unpredictability to the selection.