Luxembourg, 5th of June – 2014
After yesterday’s prologue, Tinkoff-Saxo had Manuele Boaro and Michael Mørkøv in the top-10 at the start of today’s 172 kilometer long first stage of Tour of Luxembourg. As the finale was rather bumpy, both riders were challenged in order to stay in the top of the GC.
Three riders formed the long-lasting breakaway and Trek Factory Racing were on the chase. Eventually, Lotto-Belisol joined them in the front of the pack to make sure the front trio was swept up and with 20 kilometers to go, the sprinter teams were in total control of things.
5 kilometers to go, the breakaway was neutralized and Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel launched a fierce counter-attack but was caught with less than 2 kilometers to go.
In the inevitable bunch sprint, Lotto-Belisol’s hard work paid off as Andre Greipel sprinted his way to the stage victory.
But Tinkoff-Saxo’s Michael Mørkøv finished second in the furious gallop:
“The boys did a great stage and they worked beautifully together throughout the day. In the finale, Matti took a chance and jumped up the road but was caught about 1.5 kilometers to go. Meanwhile, Michael was supported and put on Greipel’s back wheel and finished second. It’s not a win but it’s a pretty cool result finishing second behind a guy like Greipel. We have an excellent team here and I expect more of these kind of results in the stages to come,” said DS, Fabrizio Guidi.
The leader of the race, Danny Van Poppel (Trek Factory Cycling) defended the jersey by finishing third.
