O’Connor and Soler take their first Grand Tour stage wins: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers,
Wednesday was another busy day in the world of pro cycling with three WorldTour races all going on at once.
Over in Italy, a rider who had to settle for runner-up honors on Tuesday went one better to get the win, his first ever in a Grand Tour, this time around. In Spain, another first-time Grand Tour stage winner nabbed a win for the home team. And in Belgium, a team that you might expect to go one-two in a few Classics now and then did just that.
Read on for more …
Dane Cash
News Editor
What’s News
| O’Connor wins stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia
One day after he rode to a second-place finish on stage 16, Ben O’Connor soared to his first career Grand Tour stage victory on Wednesday’s stage 17.
The 24-year-old Australian joined another large breakaway at the start of the day, and then attacked out of a select lead group on the Madonna di Campiglio finishing climb. He quickly built a healthy gap and held on to take an impressive victory with Hermann Pernsteiner in second, 31 seconds back, and Thomas De Gendt in third, 1:10 down.
The GC contenders finished in a small group 5:11 back, with João Almeida retaining his overall race lead with just four stages left in the race.
Top 10, stage 17
1 O’CONNOR Ben (NTT Pro Cycling) 5:50:59
2 PERNSTEINER Hermann (Bahrain – McLaren) 0:31
3 DE GENDT Thomas (Lotto Soudal) 1:10
4 ZAKARIN Ilnur (CCC Team) 1:13
5 FRANKINY Kilian (Groupama – FDJ) 1:55
6 VANHOUCKE Harm (Lotto Soudal) 2:49
7 VILLELLA Davide (Movistar Team) 3:29
8 RODRÍGUEZ Óscar (Astana Pro Team)
9 GHEBREIGZABHIER Amanuel (NTT Pro Cycling) 3:30
10 HANSEN Jesper (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 4:32
Top 10, GC
1 ALMEIDA João (Deceuninck – Quick Step) 71:41:18
2 KELDERMAN Wilco (Team Sunweb) 0:17
3 HINDLEY Jai (Team Sunweb) 2:58
4 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao (INEOS Grenadiers) 2:59
5 BILBAO Pello (Bahrain – McLaren) 3:12
6 MAJKA Rafal (BORA – hansgrohe) 3:20
7 NIBALI Vincenzo (Trek – Segafredo) 3:31
8 POZZOVIVO Domenico (NTT Pro Cycling) 3:52
9 KONRAD Patrick (BORA – hansgrohe) 4:11
10 MASNADA Fausto (Deceuninck – Quick Step) 4:26
More to come …
| Soler nabs stage 2 of the Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España also saw a first-time Grand Tour stage winner on Wednesday as Marc Soler soloed away from an elite group in the finale to nab stage 2.
Another challenging day in the Basque Country featured the late Alto de San Miguel de Aralar climb before a descent into the finish. After a select group of 10 riders made it over the top together, Soler surged off the front on the downhill that followed and quickly opened up a small advantage. He held a gap all the way to the line in Lekunberri to nab the win.
Race leader Primoz Roglic nabbed runner-up honors 19 seconds later at the head of a small group with Dan Martin in third. Richard Carapaz was just behind in fourth with Alejandro Valverde, Enric Mas, Esteban Chaves, Hugh Carthy, Sepp Kuss, and George Bennett also making the selection, but Tom Dumoulin, who had already lost time on stage 1, dropped out of contention completely, finishing around eight minutes behind his Jumbo-Visma teammate Roglic.
Top 10, stage 17
1 SOLER Marc (Movistar Team) 3:47:04
2 ROGLIC Primoz (Team Jumbo-Visma) 0:19
3 MARTIN Dan (Israel Start-Up Nation)
4 CARAPAZ Richard (INEOS Grenadiers)
5 VALVERDE Alejandro (Movistar Team)
6 MAS Enric (Movistar Team)
7 CHAVES Esteban (Mitchelton-Scott)
8 CARTHY Hugh (EF Pro Cycling)
9 KUSS Sepp (Team Jumbo-Visma)
10 BENNETT George (Team Jumbo-Visma)
Top 10, GC
1 ROGLIC Primoz (Team Jumbo-Visma) 8:09:41
2 MARTIN Dan (Israel Start-Up Nation) 0:09
3 CARAPAZ Richard (INEOS Grenadiers) 0:11
4 CHAVES Esteban (Mitchelton-Scott) 0:17
5 MAS Enric (Movistar Team)
6 CARTHY Hugh (EF Pro Cycling) 0:20
7 KUSS Sepp (Team Jumbo-Visma) 0:26
8 BENNETT George (Team Jumbo-Visma) 0:56
9 GROSSSCHARTNE Felix (BORA – hansgrohe) 0:59
10 SOLER Marc (Movistar Team) 1:04
More to come …
| Lampaert takes Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne victory
Yves Lampaert powered to victory in the final WorldTour one-day race of the season on Wednesday, taking the win at Driedaage Brugge-De Panne.
Lampaert and a whopping three Deceuninck-Quick-Step teammates formed part of a lead group of seven riders late in the race after high winds forced big splits in the pack. With seven kilometers to go, Lampaert made a powerful move off the front and then soloed to the line in De Panne to take his first win of the season.
His Deceuninck-Quick-Step teammate Tim Declercq jumped out of the chase group to nab runner-up honors with Tim Merlier sprinting to third place.
Top 10
1 LAMPAERT Yves (Deceuninck – Quick Step) 3:57:12
2 DECLERCQ Tim (Deceuninck – Quick Step) 0:21
3 MERLIER Tim (Alpecin-Fenix) 0:22
4 DEGENKOLB John (Lotto Soudal)
5 DRUCKER Jempy (BORA – hansgrohe)
6 TRENTIN Matteo (CCC Team)
7 VAN LERBERGHE Bert (Deceuninck – Quick Step)
8 KÜNG Stefan (Groupama – FDJ)
9 ASGREEN Kasper (Deceuninck – Quick Step)
10 RICKAERT Jonas (Alpecin-Fenix) 0:28
More to come …
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