Greg Van Avermaat (CCC Team) had a hectic day after the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Most of the peloton returned to Europe on Monday evening on a chartered flight, but he had arranged for an alternate flight home immediately after the race, as jet lag would affect his preparations for the World Championships.

After outsprinting Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida) in Mont-Royal Park, Van Avermaet was forced to delay his cab ride to Trudeau Airport to fulfill his obligations as a winner Van Avermaet was the first to win the World Tour in the last race of the season. Filling a two-and-a-half-year blank since his last victory at the World Tour level, he did not mind the wait.

"I had a lot of prizes this past year, but no big wins in World Tour races.

The victory capped off Gooden Gregg's imperial period, which began with a stage win at the 2015 Tour de France, crowned with the Olympic title in Rio, and included Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Gent-Wevelgem, and E3 Harelbeke He was victorious.

Since then, the alchemy that has led Van Avermaat to so many prestigious victories has been beyond his grasp, even if he has unquestionably maintained a consistent performance. This year alone, he missed the podium at Omloop, E3 Harelbeke, Clasica San Sebastian, and Friday's Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec.

"If you're close to winning, you don't make that many mistakes," he said. But as a team leader, especially with this team, it's always nice to win."

"I was close in the Tour de France in the spring, and I was second in San Sebastian. ...... You start to doubt it, but I've been in good shape all year and winning is the most important thing.

"This win is important for me and the team because we finally got it. But we have to finish it off. I was already in good shape in Quebec, and here I finally got the win."

Van Avermaert attacked with Peter Sagan and Julien Alaphilippe in Friday's finale in Quebec, finishing third behind Michael Matthews in the sprint.

In the final lap in Montreal, he was somewhat more cautious. He was unable to keep up with Alaphilippe's furious attack, but accelerated at the right time on the drag before the finish line to take his second win at Parc Street after 2016.

"I knew it was going to be a close race to either get away with it or pull Alaphilippe back. In the end everything worked out," Van Avermaat said.

"A small gap widened, but luckily everything came back. The finish was good for me and I knew that even after such a hard race I could make a good sprint at the end. I was able to stay with Ulissi in the last 200 meters, and I was able to stay with him for the rest of the race," said Ulissi.

WorldTour points alone would not have attracted such a quality field across the Atlantic in September of this decade. The deeper attraction lies in the fact that the Quebec and Montreal GPs serve as the perfect preparatory races for the World Championships. Indeed, race director Serge Arsenault added two laps to Sunday's race.

"The result would be the same (without the extra laps), but it will help a little bit for the World Championship, which will ultimately be a really hard race," Van Avermaert said. The race started a little early today," Van Avermaert said. In the end I might have felt a little more tired, but I'm happy because we had a really hard race," said Van Avermaat. With Philippe Gilbert, Oliver Naessen, and Remco Evenpole set to compete in Yorkshire, national coach Rick Verbrugghe appears to be opting for a multi-pronged approach rather than naming a sole leader.

"I'm happy with my physical condition and we'll see what happens at the World Championships in two weeks," Van Avermaet said. I think it's a good course for me and I'm happy with how I'm feeling. We'll see how the race goes and what strategy I have with the Belgian team. [There are two races in Belgium next weekend. I can do my last training there."