Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec 2025: Interesting facts about the one-day race through Quebec
Leon Weidner
· 12.09.2025
Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec 2025: The most important facts in brief
- Date: Friday, 12 September 2025
- Distance: 216 kilometres
- Start & finish location: Quebec
- First edition: 2010 (14th edition)
- Last year's winner: Michael Matthews
- Record winner: Michael Matthews (three times)
- Organiser: Grand Prix Cyclistes de Quebec de Montreal
The one-day race through the Canadian city of Quebec forms the "Laurentian Classics" together with the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal. The Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec was held for the first time in 2010 and has been part of the UCI World Tour since 2011. This makes it one of the youngest races in the top league of professional cycling and one of the few races outside of Europe. The sole record winner is Michael Matthews, who took his third victory last year.
Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec 2025: The route
Compared to previous years, the route of the one-day race has changed somewhat. The Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec runs through the centre of the city, which has a population of over 500,000. There is a 12 kilometre circuit that is ridden 18 times in total. This results in a total length of 216 kilometres. The terrain is undulating - after all, a total of over 2600 metres in altitude are covered.
The start of the circuit is downhill after a few metres and leads through the city's green spaces such as the Parc des Champs-de-Bataille. The riders then ride on flat terrain through some of the city's streets until they descend to the St Lawrence River. The third part of the course is clearly the most challenging part of the route. The last 2 kilometres are not only mostly uphill, they also lead through parts of the old town and are technically not easy. Compared to previous years, however, the course only runs through the old town for a short time. The last part of the circuit contains two short, crisp climbs: first the Cote de la Montagne with gradients of up to 13 per cent, followed by the Montee Rue Saint-Louis and the Avenue Georges VI with one kilometre at 3 per cent to the finish.
Cote de la Montagne as a key point?
In recent years, there has usually been a bunch sprint on the Grande Allee at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec. If riders want to avoid a sprint, there is really only one option this year: riders could break away on the Cote de la Montagne, which has an average gradient of 9 per cent. Although the climb is only 600 metres long, it has a gradient of up to 13 per cent at the top. If no rider manages to break away here, a bunch sprint is inevitable.
The favourites
Classics riders who are particularly strong sprinters have the best chance of winning the day. The pace is always high during the one-day race, and there are repeated bursts of speed. One-day specialists are best placed to keep up in these conditions. However, sprinters who can withstand short, steep climbs also have a good chance of winning in Quebec. Tadej Pogacar is likely to be an outsider this year, as he intends to start in both Quebec and Montreal. However, the Slovenian is likely to have a tough time in Quebec.
The schedule
- Start12 September 2025, 17:00 (11:00 local time)
- Arrival at the finish: 12 September 2025, approx. 22:05 (approx. 16:05 local time)
Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec 2025: TV broadcast and live stream
The one-day Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec will be broadcast both on television and via live stream. The TV channel Eurosport 1 broadcasts the race live and free-to-air from 18:00 to 22:30. The paid streaming service Discovery Plus broadcasts the classic, from 16:50 to 22:35 in the live stream.
All winners of the race
- 2024: Michael Matthews
- 2023: Arnaud De Lie
- 2022: Benoit Cosnefroy
- 2021: not carried out
- 2020: not carried out
- 2019: Michael Matthews
- 2018: Michael Matthews
- 2017: Peter Sagan
- 2016: Peter Sagan
- 2015: Rigoberto Uran
- 2014: Simon Gerrans
- 2013: Robert Gesink
- 2012: Simon Gerrans
- 2011: Philippe Gilbert
- 2010: Thomas Voeckler
Leon Weidner
Working student
