SAINT-GEORGES, June 18, 2023 – Canadian Luke Valenti of the Ecoflo Chronos team is the new champion of the 35th Tour de Beauce.

American Tyler Stites of the Project Echelon team won the 5th and final stage of the Tour de Beauce, which took place on Sunday in the streets of downtown Saint-Georges. Stites had also savored the victory on Saturday during the criterium disputed in Quebec.

Stites stopped the clock at 3h 09m 02s, at nearly 39 km/h on average.

Quebecer Laurent Gervais (Cannondale Echelon) finished 2nd in the stage, followed by the great Matteo Dal-Cin (Toronto Hustle), who was gaining momentum day by day.

A profitable strategy

At the start of this final stage, no one could predict with certainty who would be crowned the winner. The demanding street circuit of 12 laps and 122 kilometers lived up to its reputation with an exciting scenario and several difficult climbs of 120th Street.

A breakaway of six cyclists widened the gap to about two minutes at the head of the race. The strategy of the Ecoflo Chrono team worked perfectly by placing Matisse Julien among the breakaway.

With 1min40s behind in 6th place in the general classification, the Quebecer could even still hope to win the Tour de Beauce. “It feels good to come to Beauce and take charge of the race. The best defense was the attack,” explained Julien.

When the lead of the fugitives was rapidly diminishing, Julien’s teammate, Luke Valenti, the wearer of the yellow jersey, managed to slip away from the peloton to return to the lead after a superb effort. At the end of the stage, all he had to do was avoid mistakes to get his hands on the title. Valenti finally crossed the finish line in 5th place.

“We exceeded our goals. Regardless, we wanted the team to win. We couldn’t have asked for better”, concluded Julien, winner of the 1st stage. On the podium of the general classification, the champion Valenti is accompanied on the second step by Tyler Stites and Carson Miles (Toronto Hustle), in 3rd place.

A 19-year-old champion

 The new champion, an Ontarian aged only 19, obviously finished first in the ranking of the best young person under 23 years old. On a UCI level event, this is the best victory of his young career since he was a junior in 2022.

With several places of honor since Wednesday, the American Stites gets his hands on the white jersey in the points classification. For his part, Eric Inkster (Cycling BC) keeps the mountain polka dot jersey. The Ecoflo Chronos team finished in first place in the team classification.

On the winners of the Tour de Beauce, Luke Valenti succeeds Brendan Rhim, winner of the 34th presentation in 2019.

Source: Communication TourdeBeauce