News – Poels wins Leige

2016 VanillaBikes Banner

Sky’s Wout Poels plowed his way through the snow to beat Albasini and Rui Costa to win Leige – Bastogne – Leige

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

News – Poels wins Leige

Team Sky Press Release | Photos – www.PelotonPhotos.com

Wout Poels produced a heroic ride in poor conditions to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege, achieving Team Sky’s first-ever Monument triumph in the process.

_Albasini_THOMAS-LOGO

Poels pulled ahead with Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Michael Albasini (Orics GreenEdge) and Samuel Sanchez (BMC Raing) as the race crested the penultimate climb, and then kept pace with his rivals on the long drag into Ans.

Once the quartet had rounded the final corner, Poels then unleashed his sprint and held off a late response from Albasini to seal Team Sky’s biggest-ever one-day win. The victory was also the biggest of Poels’s career and came at the end of a cold, wet and wintery 102nd edition.

After the race Poels caught up with TeamSky.com and admitted it still hadn’t sunk in that he’d won the oldest Monument of them all. “It’s unbelievably,” he said. “I’m really happy and I still can’t believe I won Liege-Bastogne-Liege. It’s a really nice victory that’s for sure!”

“To be able to win the first Monument for the team, especially a team like this, is really special. I’m riding with the best riders in the world. It’s a huge win for the team and also for myself.”

Poels was also able to talk us through the final sprint, which marked him out as the strongest man in the race. “I know I’m quite fast but I also knew that guys like Albasini were quick too. After 260km no sprint is the same. I think everyone was really tired from the cold, rain, snow and everything else the weather threw at us today. I did a good sprint and luckily it was enough to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege!”

_Poels_THOMAS-LOGO
1. Wout Poels, Sky
2. Michael Albasini, Orica GreenEdge
3. Rui Costa, Lampre
4. Sami Sanchez, BMC

19. Stephen Cummings, Dimension Data
44. Ben Swift, Sky
47. Dan Martin, Etixx Quickstep
56. Adam Yates, Orica GreenEdge

… (… continued after advert)

2016_ShuttVeloRapideAdvert

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

AlpsCyclesMidstory

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: ,