The Wolfpack tried to shape the most difficult stage of the race.
The Tour de Luxembourg queen stage came with a tasty menu: five classified climbs and more than 3100 vertical meters. The cherry on the cake was the cobbled climb taking to the medieval Vianden castle built on a rocky promontory between the 11th and 14th centuries.
Our team stayed true to its nature and went on the attack on the local laps, with around 50 kilometers to go, when Pepijn Reinderink and Devo Team’s Jasper Schoofs made it into a strong move, where the latter drilled it hard for his teammate, who was sitting ninth overall at the start of the day. The breakaway, which was in pursuit of the original one, was strong and numerous – counting around 15 riders – but due to the lack of collaboration, they were caught despite having at one point a promising one-minute lead on the peloton.
On the penultimate hill, the GC men made their intentions known and launched a series of fierce accelerations that fragmented the bunch. Ten riders jumped clear, and after a thrilling finish on the never-ending last climb, which packed some gruelling gradients of 15%, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) took the victory from that group. Once again, Reinderink was the first Soudal Quick-Step rider home and will be the team’s last man to start in Saturday’s individual time trial.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
