The opening race of the Canadian World Championships marks the debut of the B Worlds Road Race. 24 nations who would not ordinarily have featured at the event, all bidding for victory, and the chance to ride in the Elite Road Race at the end of the week.
Expected to generally suit the sprinters, we will get a first preview of what effect the hill can have on this 20km circuit course.
The always colourful site of national jerseys could be seen on the startline, with nations from all regional tours represented.
The first to attack is Senyenov of Kazakhstan, with Finnish rider Kulppi hot on his tails.
Skettos, Jiao, Sibilla Romero, and Bakri follow but a variety of nations decide to chase it down. Mongolia, Slovakia, Argentina, Kenya and Brazil.
Brenes, Majka and Hristov all try to bridge the small gap, resulting in the end of the break. Hong Kong's Choi launches a clever counter attack as they are caught, and the Compal-Merida rider is followed by free agent Bogdan Coman of Romania.
The pair open up a minute's gap, before Hristov tries to animate the race once again and go across to them. Majka closely following him.
Two riders did get clear, but it was not those two but instead Adamou and Dyachenko.
Still the peloton chase, curiously led by two sprinters: Hochmann (Czech Republic) and Uugunbayar (Mongolia). We assumed these two would lead their nation, but clearly not!
Kenya, Brazil and Slovakia also try to limit the gains of the breakaway but eventually the peloton sit up.
So here is the break of the day:
Vassilis Adamou (Cyprus/Euskaltel)
Aleksandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan/Compal)
Ki Ho Choi (Hong Kong/Compal)
Bogdan Coman (Romania)
As the race ticked on, there was a crash for Grashev of Bulgaria, and punctures for Moyano (Argentina) and Vysna (Slovakia). It was easy for them to rejoin the peloton though, which was being led by the nations of Greece, Cuba, Argentina and Slovakia.
The wind is relatively strong today and at 40km to go it appeared that the peloton could be at breaking point. Not so good for the riders from Eritrea, Venezuela, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, China and Brazil, seen here roughly 2/3rds of the way back in the peloton. The Sri Lankan in question is their best sprinter Sandakelum.
After a somewhat uneventful race we are already closing on the final lap, with just over 20km to go. As you can see there is a bit of an uphill kick to the final kilometre, with a finish line gradient of 3%. The break hold a lead of 1'15.
Behind the relay train of the same 4 nations, a heavy Danish presence can be seen forming at the front of the peloton.
The weakest of the break, Coman, is dropped on the last main climb of the race and as he slips back to the peloton we have an attack from the Mongolian Delgerbayar!
Following him is the first move from Denmark, and it is their strong man sprinter Thomas Vedel Kvist.
He crosses the gap to the Compal-Merida duo of Choi and Dyachenko, who have by now dropped Adamou, to move into the lead of the race.
Choi's compatriot Ho-Ting Kwok tried to follow Kvist, and now links up with Choi and Dyachenko in the group behind.
There's a crash towards the back of the peloton! Invovled are three Finns: Manninen, Tiainen and Lehtinen. Also Wu, Amanuel and Malaysian sprinter Anuar Manan!
With 7km to go Kvist has now opened up a 25 second solo lead. The other 3 are just about to be caught by the pack.
Still it is Cuba, Greece and Argentina setting the pace - with their sprinters in mind.
But 3rd wheel Pereyra comes crashing down to the floor!
Luckily the rest of the field managed to miss him, all except for Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot, who hurts himself and is forced to abandon.
Into the final 5 kilometre and the lead out trains are starting to form. Cuba lead the way with Portuondo Torres, Arias Perez and Granjel Cabrera, plus Manarelli following - while to their right are Uugunbayar and Kratochvila.
The Greeks are lining up with Tamouridis and the Tzortzakis brothers, while Argentina also have brothers involved: the Richezes. Infront of them is Godoy, while Lucas Sebastian Haedo is in the Richeze sandwich.
Guillen is up there too, in front of Czechs Vesely and Rabon, as well as Arashiro.
But let's not forgot Kvist, who has 18 seconds lead with 3km remaining.
The Greeks emerge as the strongest train, led by former Festina rider Tamouridis. Vesely has spotted this and tagged himself onto the back wheel.
Mongolia had hoped to host the Worlds this year and there is a strong presence near the front with Altanzul following Uugunbayar, and Delgerbayar close by. There's a first sight of a Polish rider, but it is Golas not Ulanowski. There's a bunch of Danish riders just out of shot, with Juul-Jensen currently leading the way.
There hopes seem to rest on Kvist now, and he has held on to 16 seconds advantage inside the final 1.5km
But now the sprint begins, with Polychronis Tzortzakis leading out his older brother Georgos. Together with Vesely they have a nice gap on the Argentinians and the rest.
Finally we catch sight of Sagan, but while the uphill final kilometre might suit him, he has a lot of work to do.
Into the final kilometre for Kvist. Can the Swedbank rider hold off the closing Greeks?
The sprint behind Greece is quite chaotic. Argentina split apart with Haedo going one way and Maximiliano Richeze the other, while Cuban lead out man Arias Perez has left Granjel Cabrera behind.
Haedo seems to be the fastest Argentinian at the moment and is closing up on Tzortzakis, as is the surprise presence of Arias Perez.
But now Georgos Tzortzakis and Vesely launch their moves past the leadout, and Kvist is caught! Vesely takes the lead.
Granjel Cabrera, Guillen, Arashiro, Manarelli, Ulanowski and Rabon are coming up fast on the left hand side of the road.
Daniel Vesely leads but Richeze is rapidly closing in.
Here comes the lunge for the line...
Maximiliano Richeze wins the B World Championships!
A close 2nd for Vesely, while Tzortzakis rounds off the podium.
Granjel Cabrera came through for 4th ahead of Arashiro, Haedo, Manarelli, Guillen, Ulanowski, and Arias Perez.
Kvist would eventually finish down in 20th - with all 8 of the Danish team ending in the Top 33. The best placed of them was Alex Rasmussen in 14th, just infront of last season's CT star Thiago Nardin.
Not a race for climbers, although Venezuelan duo Rujano and Monsalve ended up 23rd and 24th. Meanwhile Sagan was completely out of it, down in 30th.
Vuelta champion Jose Alarcon rolled in in 61st place, just behind the man he beat there Stefan Denifl.
In the battle of African sprinters for the fantasy bet, Samwel Ekiru ended up as only the 7th best finisher for Kenya in 87th place. It was enough to finish ahead of all Eritreans though, with Elias Afewerki close behind in 94th.
