The race consisted of 17 laps of a circuit in length, and followed the same path as the 2011 edition. The circuit, around the main campus of the Université de Montréal, was well-suited for climbers and punchers with three climbs per lap. The finish was on an uphill climb with a small gradient of 4%, that was located on Avenue du Parc. There was a sharp, 180 degrees bend to the right situated 500 meters away from the line. The total vertical climb of the race was 3,893 meters. The major difficulties were:
Kilometer 2: Côte Camilien-Houde: 1,8 kilometers, average gradient of 8%
Kilometer 6: Côte de la Polytechnque: 780 meters, average gradient of 6% with a pass of 200 meters at 11%
Kilometer 11: Avenue du Parc: 560 meters, average gradient of 4%
Teams
As the race was held under the auspices of the UCI World Tour, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically. There were also 3 wildcard invitations, which were UCI Professional Continental teams: two French squads and a Canadian one. The 18 ProTeams that competed were: The 3 UCI Professional Continental teams that competed were:
Race summary
The first significant breakaway occurred at kilometer 31, when Manuele Boaro got away, soon to be joined by Cyril Gautier and Egoi Martinez. It was the second time that Boaro tried his luck, the first attempt was annulled a little earlier. The trio cruised to a five-minute advantage, while Simone Ponzi of and Kristijan Koren of made an attempt to join them, and their acceleration caused a few riders to drop from the peloton. Before Koren and Ponzi could scheme something, they were brought back with to race, as the leading group became a duet since Boaro was dropped. Martinez and Gauthier were finally caught on the Côte de la Polytechnique during the penultimate lap. Other attacks occurred, but the bunch was back together as they crossed the line to race the last lap. On the Côte Camilien-Houde, 's David Veilleux attacked, while Janez Brajkovic and Gerald Ciolek collided and crashed during the climb. Canadian Ryder Hesjedal worked to bring the lead group together, which was composed of about 25 riders with to go, when Greg Van Avermaet produced an acceleration that was brought back by the group. Lars Petter Nordhaug then placed an attack of his own, being screamed on by his team via his earpiece to go for the victory since his teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen was out of energy. Nordhaug was caught by Moreno Moser and Alexandr Kolobnev on the Avenue du Parc, near the flamme rouge. The pair had escaped from the group, Kolobnev produced an acceleration with to race, his chances looked good but Nordhaug passed him to take the victory with an advantage of two seconds, with Moser taking second place and Kolobnev holding on for third. Simon Gerrans, who won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec 2 days before, sprinted to fourth place.
