Quick-Step Floors lead the World Tour team classification after the 28th event of the year.
Laurens De Plus continued to show grit and determination at the Tour de Pologne on the final stage, after what's been a tough week of racing, during which our team captured a victory and enjoyed a stint in the yellow jersey with Colombian sprinter Alvaro Hodeg, the only neo-pro to win at World Tour level so far this season.
On the fifth climb of the 136km-long stage between Bukovina Resort and Bukowina Tatrzanska, Laurens De Plus lifted himself from the saddle and launched a gutsy attack, riding away from the field with 30 kilometers remaining. Joined by two more riders, Laurens caught some of the riders distanced from the original breakaway and at one point even put around 35 seconds between them and the yellow jersey group. A reaction eventually came one kilometer from the summit of the last ranked climb, where a brace of accelerations pegged back Laurens, despite his valiant effort.
The stage was won as a result of a late attack by Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), while Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) retained his yellow jersey for 15 seconds. Laurens, one of the most active riders of the race in the second part of the week, when the race ventured into the mountains, finished in the top 20 overall, as our best placed rider.
Quick-Step Floors' crop of points in the Tour de Pologne helped our squad cement its lead in the World Tour classification, which the team will head for the 21st consecutive week going into the BinckBank Tour, the 29th World Tour stop of the season.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele/ Getty Images
