News: Lewis Askey Gets His Win

Lewis Askey gets his first pro win “Oh yeahhhhhhh!!! he says adding, “finally got my win” he said on twitter. “I spent my evening imagining this attack over and over again”

News: Lewis Askey Gets His Win

Lewis Askey gets his first pro win “Oh yeahhhhhhh!!! he says adding, “finally got my win” he said on twitter. Over on his team’s website, they wrote – On the second stage of the Ronde de l’Isard, the young British rider from the Conti Groupama-FDJ finally clinched the victory he so longed for, and moreover after a nice finish.

A few months before he joins the WorldTour Team, Lewis Askey is achieving a series of excellent results. “I spent my evening imagining this attack over and over again”, Lewis Askey explained.

On the stage, the second of the race, three riders went clear after fifteen kilometres and the race leader’s SEG Academy team controlled the race behind the breakaway. The leaders gained three minutes, but around halfway there was a big acceleration from the Jumbo-Visma Development team in the peloton. Everything came together, a new race started and there was a lot of activity in the peloton.

A few top riders tried their luck with Lewis Askey going with a few of the moves. The most dangerous move came fifty kilometres from the line with Maxime Limousin, Luca van Boven, Alex Martin Gutierrez and Johannes Staune-Mitter getting away. The breakaway was almost two minutes ahead with twenty-five kilometres to the finish and then under the ten k to go banner, the lead of the breakaway was still more than a minute.”

There was an uncategorised climb close to the finish and this was where Lewis Askey attacked. It was a planned move by the British star. Lewis didn’t want to wait for the sprint even though it suited him fairly well because it was a technical and tough one.

“I was very agitated last night,” Lewis remembers. “I wasn’t too happy after yesterday’s stage and when I looked at today’s race, I knew this was my last chance to win in this event. As early as last night, I said where I wanted to attack, and I repeated that at the briefing this morning. I spent my entire evening imagining this attack over and over again. I asked at the briefing if I could give it a try instead of waiting for the sprint, and I told Jerome that if I was to win, I had to do it that way”

“That’s why I decided to go at that point and it turned out exactly as I had imagined. I saw riders suffering on the climb two kilometres from the finish and I still felt great, so I put it all into my attack. I didn’t turn around right away, and when I did, I saw that I had a gap. From there it was a bit technical and I took every possible risk in the corners. Fortunately, I stayed on the bike and had time to celebrate. It’s a victory that I’ll remember for a long time. To be able to raise your arms with the peloton sprinting behind it is incredible.”

“It’s a real relief to get this result,” he said. This victory means a lot to me because I really, really wanted to grab a victory before joining the WorldTour. I’ve given a lot to my teammates over the past two years so I was very happy to have my chance here. I had very few opportunities left to complete my goal, and I was aware of it, but I also knew my form was amazing. I’ve been in the shape of my life since the Worlds (5th), even though I couldn’t finish it off there”.

“Still, I knew that if I attacked with everything I had today, few would be able to keep up with me.”

A team spokesman said after “We know he is a very talented rider. He did not necessarily have the results to match his talent, but we never doubted his abilities.”