Asgreen solos to victory at E3: Daily News
Hello again, CyclingTips readers,
Friday saw the Classics specialists in action on the Flemish cobbles at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and stage racing as well at the Volta a Catalunya and the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.
Read on for the latest from the world of cycling.
Dane Cash
News Editor
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Asgreen solos to victory at E3
Kasper Asgreen won the E3 Saxo Bank Classic on Friday, soloing away from a select group in the finale and holding on for the victory. His Deceuninck-Quick-Step teammate Florian Sénéchal nabbed runner-up honors on the day ahead of Mathieu van der Poel.
As it so often does, the challenging one-day in Flanders saw aggressive riding throughout the day, and the peloton was significantly reduced when Asgreen powered off the front on the Eikenberg inside the last 70 km for his first big attack of the day. Behind, the pack would split into small groups as riders attacked and counterattacked, while Asgreen continued to build an advantage out front over the course of the next hour. Into the last 20 km, Asgreen had a gap of 20 seconds with a select group chasing behind.
Wout van Aert put in a big dig out of that group on the Tiegemberg, shelling a few riders out the back but not creating any separation. As Van Aert began to flag, Van der Poel responded with a big surge of his own, and within moments, he and Sénéchal, Greg Van Avermaet, Zdenek Stybar, and Oliver Naesenl had broken clear of the rest of the group. With 18 km to go, Asgreen’s gap stood at 13 seconds. Over the next few minutes, Dylan van Baarle caught up to Van der Poel’s group, while Asgreen’s gap continued to fall. The chasers caught up to him with 12 km to go, making for a seven-rider lead group.
A high pace kept the group mostly intact on the run-in to the finale, while Asgreen spent several minutes at the back of the group. With 4 km to go, however, Asgreen fired off the front again and quickly built a gap. With two of Asgreen’s teammates in the group behind, any attempt to bridge was immediately tracked down, and that helped Asgreen quickly build on his advantage. Only two kilometers later, Asgreen’s gap had grown to 15 seconds, and it became clear that the Dane was heading to his first ever WorldTour one-day victory. He indeed held on to take the victory, with Sénéchal sprinting to runner-up honors ahead of Van der Poel 32 seconds later.
Kämna powers out of the break to win stage 5 of the Volta a Catalunya
Lennard Kämna won Friday’s fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya after attacking out of the day’s main breakaway. The 24-year-old German soloed to the win vvv and held on to win with a 39-second gap to runner-up Ruben Guerreiro, with Mikel Bizkarra taking third, 42 seconds back.
Kämna, Guerreiro, and Bizkarra joined a big group of breakaway riders that formed in the early goings of the stage, and the peloton allowed the escapees to build a substantial gap over the course of the day. Kämna repeatedly attacked a whittled down breakaway going up the final climb of the day, on a short rise after the summit, and then on the ensuing descent, and he finally broke clear with around 7 km to go. He quickly built a gap and extended as it took time for the chase to get organized behind, and there was no catching him in the final kilometers. Bizkarra attacked the second group on the road in the last kilometer but Guerreiro surged past to nab second place on the day.
Adam Yates would finish together with the rest of the top GC contenders 1:59 behind Kämna to maintain his overall race lead.
Vingegaard wins Coppi e Bartali stage 4
Jonas Vingegaard won stage 4 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, extending his overall lead on the penultimate day of the race.
The 154.8 km stage that started and finished in San Marino closed out with several laps on a circuit that traversed a short climb, and the repeated trips up the ascent whittled the peloton down to a select group in the finale. Javier Romo attacked out of pack on the final climb, but Vingegaard responded and caught and passed him, and then held on to nab his second stage win of the race. Romo settled for second with Nick Schultz taking third on the day.
In case you missed it …
This week’s Bike of the Bunch is an ultralight homebuilt mountain bike from Francis Lim.
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