Michael Woods of Toronto, Ontario made Canadian cycling history on Sunday. Woods became the second Canadian cyclist ever to earn a podium finish at one of the UCI World Tour’s five monuments when he placed second at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in Belgium.
Woods placed second behind Bob Jungels of Luxembourg and just ahead of Romain Bardet of France. Jungels had a winning time of six hours, 24 minutes and 44 seconds. Woods’s second place time was six hours, 25 minutes and 21 seconds. Bardet also had a time of six hours, 25 minutes and 21 seconds and placed third.
Woods reached the podium by two seconds. Julian Alaphilippe of France finished fourth with a time of six minutes, 25 minutes and 23 seconds.
The only other Canadian to finish in the top three of a UCI World Tour monument event was Steve Bauer of St. Catharines, Ontario. Considered Canada’s greatest road cyclist of all-time, Bauer placed second at the monument event in Paris-Roubaix in 1990.
The five UCI World Tour monument events are a single day race, just like cycling events at the Olympic Games. In addition to Liege-Bastogne-Liege in Belgium and Paris-Roubaix in France, the other three UCI World Tour monument events are Milan-San Remo in Italy, the Tour of Flanders in Belgium and the Giro di Lombardia in Italy.
