News: Remco Evenepoel wins the Tour of Poland

Remco Evenepoel’s stunning year continued this week, as the Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider claimed his first triumph in a World Tour stage race, Davide Ballerini claims his first World Tour victory on final stageand Simon Yates is third on GC

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News: Remco Evenepoel wins the Tour of Poland

Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images

Remco Evenepoel’s stunning year continued this week, as the Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider claimed his first triumph in a World Tour stage race and extended his astonishing winning streak, which now includes overall victories at the Vuelta a San Juan, Volta ao Algarve, Vuelta a Burgos and the Tour de Pologne – all added to his palmares in the last seven months.

His latest win was forged on the penultimate stage of the race, when Evenepoel rode away from the rest of the peloton with more than 50 kilometers to go and put nearly two minutes into his chasers, a success that propelled him at the top of the general classification ahead of the final day between Zakopane and Krakow. The stage had a hilly first section, followed by a flattish part before three local laps in the city, where the sprinters’ teams took over the reins from Deceuninck – Quick-Step, who up until then made sure of reeling in the escapees.

Third a few days ago, Davide Ballerini showed that the result he got in Zabrze was no fluck, masterfully surfing the wheels and coming from behind at a ferocious speed, beating Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) and Alberto Dainese (Sunweb) en route to a maiden success at World Tour level. By doing this, the 25-year-old from Cantù became the tenth different Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider to win a race this season, helping the Wolfpack cement its position at the head of the UCI World Team Classification.

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Davide Ballerini “The podium I got in Zabrze gave me a lot of confidence for today. Thinking at all times of Fabio motivated us and we remained focused as we tried to rack up some more victories for him. The sprint was very fast, but I felt good today, I waited for the right time to go and I just sprinted with 100 meters to go. It’s the perfect way to bring to a conclusion what’s been a very emotional week for us. I’m happy with my first World Tour win, but even happier with the group I saw here, this big family called Deceuninck – Quick-Step, who stuck together in the difficult moments we faced”, Davide Ballerini explained after the podium ceremony.

At just 20 years and 197 days of age, Remco Evenepoel became the youngest rider to conquer the Tour de Pologne since the race was made a fixture on the World Tour calendar, in 2005, a victory which augurs well ahead of his Monument debut at Il Lombardia. His win was the team’s 23rd since the start of the year.

Remco Evenepoel  “It’s an amazing way to end what started as a very hard week for us. Three stage wins and the general classification is incredible, but the best result is that Fabio is recovering. From the moment the news came from the hospital about his condition, we received a big boost and gave absolutely everything for him. Knowing how he fought there gave us a lot of strength”, said Remco, the most successful rider of the season so far, with nine victories to his name. “Our team dominated the race and it’s nice to leave Poland, which I really enjoyed, with so many victories. It’s the morale-boost I needed for Il Lombardia.”

Jakob Fuglsang (2nd): In general, I am happy with my performance and results here. The only chance I had to win a stage was yesterday but there was one guy faster but yeah that happens. All in all, I am satisfied as it was my first participation at the Tour de Pologne and it is a nice race, maybe this year, there weren’t that much stages for me to go for a win, but it was a good training. Now I am on the way to Italy for Lombardia. –

Simon Yates (3rd): “I think we came into the race as a team looking to get onto the podium so we accomplished that. On a personal level I was feeling better every day so looking forward to what is coming up this season.”

Rafal Majka (4th): We started the race with a few options for the general classification, and we also wanted to win stages with Pascal. So all in all, I think we balanced these two ambitions quite well. Of course, I would have liked to have finished on the podium, but in the end, I finished four seconds behind Simon Yates, who took third in the GC. So we can see from the race that I’m in good form.“ – Rafal Majka

Diego Ulissi (5th) “The week was successful with a high ranking in a very strong field . Too bad I missed the victory in the third stage, since it was within my reach: it is however a sign that I have excellent legs, now I will continue to work well to seek success as soon as possible. I thank the whole team for the support they have given me”.

Kamil Małecki (6th): “I am really happy to be able to finish off the week with sixth place on the General Classification. Like I said yesterday [after the queen stage], to secure a place in the top ten overall at my first WorldTour race is amazing and gives me a lot of motivation for the rest of the season. Today was all about making sure I finished safely in the bunch and I have to say thank you to the whole team for doing such a great job today and throughout the week.

After training camp in Livingo and also Vuelta a Burgos, I felt like I was coming here is good condition so I am happy to know that all my hard work during the break has paid off. It was another hard stage today and we were really going full gas from around 60 kilometers to go. I could feel it in my legs a bit especially after yesterday’s effort so I am looking forward to a few recovery days before my next races.”

Pascal Ackermann (2nd on stage) “The team controlled the race well the entire day and didn’t let the leading group stretch the elastic too far. Although yesterday was a difficult day, today I had good legs and thought I had a good chance to win. On the last kilometres I had a good lead-out, but I put on my sprint a bit too early and then it wasn’t enough to win. It’s a pity that after I only just missed the victory on the second stage, I couldn’t win a stage this year.“ – Pascal Ackermann

Alberto Dainese (3rd on stage): “The guys did a good job the whole day,” explained Dainese at the finish. “Firstly Nils who waited for me and helped me to come back to the peloton after the start when the race split. Then once we were coming to the finish the guys brought me to the front on the last lap. We lost each other a little bit but Nils then did a good pull on the front to position me. Unfortunately, I had to brake a little bit in the last straight so I lost some speed and couldn’t go for the win anymore. I’m satisfied with the podium but of course I would have liked to have won.”

Stage
1. Davide Ballerini Deceuninck-Quick Step 04:31:22
2. Pascal Ackermann Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Alberto Dainese Team Sunweb
4. Ryan Gibbons NTT Pro Cycling Team
5. Jasper Philipsen UAE Team Emirates
6. Rudy Barbier Israel Start-Up Nation
7. Sebastian Molano UAE Team Emirates
8. Phil Bauhaus Bahrain-McLaren
9. Szymon Sajnok CCC Team
10. Albert Torres Movistar Team

Overall
1. Remco Evenepoel Deceuninck-Quick Step 21:29:50
2. Jakob Fuglsang Astana Pro Team + 01:52
3. Simon Yates Mitchelton-Scott + 02:28
4. Rafal Majka Bora-Hansgrohe + 02:32
5. Diego Ulissi UAE Team Emirates + 03:09
6. Kamil Malecki CCC Team + 03:12
7. Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb + 03:15
8. Jonas Vingegaard Team Jumbo – Visma + 03:18
9. Mikel Nieve Mitchelton-Scott + 03:18
10. Rui Costa UAE Team Emirates + 03:19

26. Edward Dunbar Team Ineos + 08:52
47. Owain Doull Team Ineos + 13:57
63. Luke Rowe Team Ineos + 22:40
87. James Knox Deceuninck-Quick Step + 29:46
88. Albert Torres Movistar Team + 30:11
94. Fred Wright Bahrain-McLaren + 32:15
102. Ryan Mullen Trek-Segafredo + 35:25
105. Thomas Scully EF Pro Cycling + 37:42
106. Sebastian Mora Movistar Team + 37:58
115. Sam Brand Team Novo Nordisk + 41:48
134. Harry Tanfield AG2R La Mondiale + 52:43
135. Jonathan Dibben Lotto Soudal + 57:31
137. Mark Cavendish Bahrain-McLaren + 59:27

Full Result Here


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