The Tour de Eurometropole reached its conclusion today after another mass sprint which was won by Jonas Ahlstrand (Cofidis). Sondre Holst Enger (IAM Cycling) was 2nd and Raymond Kreder (Roompot) took 3rd place. Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) won the race overall.

Jayde Julius, the young MTN-Qhubeka stagiaire, had another good day as he found himself in the breakaway for the 2nd time this week. Jayde Julius was looking like one of the stronger riders in the lead group of 6 and the young South African took 1st spot over the first 3 GPM’s of the day.

The break weren’t going to survive today though as Lotto-Soudal were intent on having another crack at a sprint finish. With 50km to go the race was all back together already and our African team looked to keep Theo Bos upfront and in contention for the inevitable bunch gallop.

There were a few attacks on the finishing local circuit but no group were able to get much more than 15” at time. It was the GC riders forcing the pace as they battled for the few bonus sprints on offer during the lap, once the final sprint had passed it all came back together for the the sprint.

It was a sprint which Cofidis produced a really good leadout for, ultimately resulting in Ahlstrand taking the win. Bos was right up there in the mix to take 8th, promising signs after his long road of recovery.

“It was a good day. It was pretty hard because of the climb on the circuit, especially the last 3 times up the climb when the GC guys were racing for the bonuses. I know the lap well from last year and always believed it would come back for a bunchy. In the final I was together with Stauff and he took me to the front before the last corner. From there I followed the sprinters teams. Maybe if Stauff and I waited until after the corner and then went together more would have been possible but that's always easier said in hindsight. I'm pretty happy with 8th place at the moment but it would be nice to do a better result next week,” Bos said.