Team News: Tuens Third in Lombardia

Dylan Teuns brought his time with BMC Racing Team to an end in style by riding to his first Monument podium result at Il Lombardia, sprinting to third

Team News: Tuens Third in Lombardia

Dylan Teuns brought his time with BMC Racing Team to an end in style by riding to his first Monument podium result at Il Lombardia, sprinting to third place from a small chase group behind winner Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and runner up Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).

Teuns, who showed good form with third place at Giro dell’Emilia, came into the race as a team leader alongside Alessandro De Marchi and showed what he is capable of in only his second time racing at Il Lombardia.
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At the start of the 241 kilometer race, the battle to form a breakaway played out over the opening 30 kilometers before eight riders were able to go clear, eventually establishing a six-minute advantage.

After the Colle Gallo, Movistar Team took control of the chase and brought the breakaway’s advantage back to five minutes until the descent of the Colle Brianza, at which point the peloton started to close in on the group to reduce the gap to four minutes at the half-way point of the race.

Attacks at the front of the race on the Madonna del Ghisallo saw the breakaway split before the steep gradients of the Colma di Sormano saw the leading quarter’s advantage reduced to 50 seconds on the early slopes.

With a maximum gradient of 27 percent on the Muro di Sormano, a select group was quickly formed, from which Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) attacked before being joined and overtaken by Nibali and Pinot at the top of the climb.

Behind, Teuns battled the steep ascent to form part of a small chase group of a dozen riders while on the descent, Roglic regained contact with Nibali and Pinot.

Teuns’ group trailed the leading trio by 40 seconds on the flat run into the Civiglio climb, at which point Egan Bernal (Team Sky) attacked and made contact with the leading group to make it four riders in front.

Pinot and Nibali managed to drop Bernal and Roglic instead the final 20 kilometers and with 14 kilometers to go, on the steep section of the Civiglio, Pinot attacked in what would become the winning move and opened up a 20-second advantage over Nibali.

Teuns was holding on in the chase group, which momentarily caught Nibali before he attacked again, and with a podium spot on offer, the Belgian dug deep to stay with the group as they rode under the flamme rouge.

Nibali crossed the line for second place behind Pinot, at which point Teuns gave it everything he had and launched his sprint to cross the line in third place, and secure his maiden Monument podium result.

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Dylan Teuns: “I had really good legs today and in the end, I couldn’t gamble for the win because Pinot was really strong on the Sormano and we never saw him again. This is a hard race and one that I like so, I can be really happy with a podium finish at a Monument. It’s a dream to win a race like this and I think I made the first step by being on the podium today and I hope I can come back and win one day.

“The Sormano is an important point of the race, it’s maybe the most difficult point, and I tried to follow the bigger riders there but, it was not easy. The attack from riders including Pinot and Nibali was really strong and I was just 20 meters or so behind.

I tried to find my own speed from there and I came to the top of the climb in fifth position but not too far back, maybe only 20 to 25 seconds behind. On a fast descent like that, it was hard to close the gap though. In the end, once the group was gone after the descent of Sormano, we never saw Pinot again.

We saw Bernal coming back as well as Roglic and Nibali, who we caught on the last climb but he went on to attack in the descent. I think the strongest won for sure today.”

“I missed the victory this season, which comes to an end for me today. Now, I can enjoy some rest and reload the batteries in order to come back stronger hopefully. I don’t know what I need to improve on but one thing I can do is keep trying. I hope one day, the big victory will come in a Classic. That is what I dream about.”