A strong outing and some bonus seconds helped the 22-year-old gain important positions on the general classification.
It took only a couple of kilometers for a breakaway to form on Friday, and when this happened, Soudal Quick-Step’s Junior Lecerf was there. The team’s best placed rider on the previous stage, the young Belgian spent 80 kilometers at the front of the race, part of a five-man group, taking some solid pulls at the front and picking up three important bonus seconds at the two intermediate sprints.
Having accomplished his main objective – scoring those bonifications in Aldinga and Yankalilla – Lecerf decided to sit up and wait for the peloton, knowing that Saturday would be a big and draining day in the saddle at the Tour Down Under, with the finish atop Willunga Hill.
The bunch rode a ferocious pace to bring back the remaining escapees, and helped by the 1.8km Nettle Hill, they managed to do that with just 12 kilometers to go. A flurry of attacks soon followed, on a small climb not far from the line, but despite the peloton being reduced to some 70-odd riders, they managed to keep things together for a bunch sprint in Victor Harbor, where Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) prevailed after a hectic finish.
The general classification didn’t see too many changes at the top, which means Junior Lecerf remains the highest-ranked rider of our team going into the crucial penultimate stage of the Tour Down Under.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
