Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) again confirmed that he is one of the most exciting French talents when he rode to victory in the Tour de Luxembourg queen stage. Together with Mathias Frank (IAM), he bridged across to Christopher Juul Jensen (Orica-GreenEDGE) and his teammate Luis Angel Mate on the Col de l’Europe and he beat his rivals in the four-rider sprint. Race leader Maurits Lammertink (Roompot) arrived 13 seconds later and retained the lead with a 7-second advantage over Turgis.

 

We have gathered a few reactions.

 

Anthony Turgis: Everything else will be a bonus

"We came to this Tour of Luxembourg to geta win," Anthony Turgis said. "We also want a good place overall but the first goal was a stage win. It's done. We managed to ride well and to win a stage. Tomorrow everything will be a bonus for us.  We have a very strong team,  we saw Friday that we had a good shot together up the climb. We are all able to ride well. Some riders were more protected for the final, but we had other cards for attacks. We sent some guys up front, we managed to be there with Luis Angel Maté, which also allowed me to stay away."

 

Christopher Juul-Jensen agonizingly close to first win for Orica-GreenEDGE

Danish rider Chris Juul-Jensen had a strong finish on today's stage three of theTour de Luxembourg, sprinting into second place after a incredible display of teamwork and impressive ride from 25-year-old Luke Durbridge.

 

Durbridge animated most of the rainy stage being present in a breakaway of five riders until the final laps when Juul-Jensen bridged across. The ORICA-GreenEDGEduo remained out front with two other riders and in a position to race for the stage victory. 

 

It was Anthony Turgis (Team Cofidis) who proved the fastest in the end, with Juul-Jensen sprinting to second place and jumping up to fifth place on the general classification with just one stage remaining.

 

Sport director Matt Wilson was overjoyed with the team performance today having raced tactically well on the tough Queen stage.

 

"It was an awesome day by the team today, really fantastic," said Wilson. "Durbridge was super aggressive, in fact all the guys were. He eventually got in the break which was the strongest of the tour, he rode well and he played it really cool out there.

 

"The plan was for Chris to attack on the second lap which he did and went across to Durbidge at the top of the second climb, then Durbridge just buried himself to the bottom of the next climb and Chris went again. A couple of guys bridged across and so they ended up with a group of four who stayed away to the final. 

 

"It was a really great ride from these guys, also Alex Edmondson was still in the bunch which was a very select group at the finish. He was ready to do a good sprint if it all came back together and he actually finished the stage in sixth place.

 

"Overall today was a fantastic display of teamwork from the riders, they all rode really strongly and we are in a good position heading into the final stage tomorrow with two riders in the top ten and close to the overall podium with Juul-Jensen."

 

Mathias Frank shows Tour de Suisse form in Luxembourg queen stage

 “This was a good test for the Tour of Switzerland,” Mathias Frank commented after taking 3rd place in Saturday’s stage of the Tour de Luxembourg.  “We wanted to make the race hard today, and we certainly succeeded.  So far, I have not made any great efforts in this event because I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks in the prologue or the initial stages.  My goal from the beginning was to try something in one of the hard stages. 

 

”I am satisfied with today’s performance.  I wasn’t prepared to risk anything in the technical final descent today, so this third place is completely fine.  And I am certainly planning on trying something in tomorrow’s stage again.  The legs are good, and it offers yet another test for my form, even if tomorrow’s final climb is only about half as long as today’s”

 

”Our goal today was to influence the race,” explained Thierry Marichal, who along with Rubens Bertogliati is acting as a directeur sportif in Luxembourg.  “The stage Saturday was very demanding; especially the last 25 kilometers on the final circuit were very difficult.  Initially, we were represented by Matthias Brändle in the breakaway for the day, so we didn’t have any pressure to contribute to the chase.  The group worked well together, and remained out in front until the final lap of the course, before the attacks started to come from the main field. 

 

”When we came to the last time up the 1.5 kilometer long Côte de l'Europe, Mathias Frank also attacked and he was able to gain some daylight. After a very technical descent, he was able to take 3rd in the final sprint to the line.  This has been perfect preparation for him with regards to the upcoming Tour de Suisse.”

  

On Sunday, the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg will feature a 178.2 km long stage from Mersch to Luxembourg City to finish off the event.  The final will take place at the end of the Pabeierbierg, which is an 825 meter long climb in Luxembourg that boasts ramps up to 14%, and will be scaled five times in the course of the stage. 

 

“For the final day, we intend to have a similar game plan as today. It is certainly important to have someone in the breakaway group, and then on the demanding finishing circuit, Mathias Frank will have another chance to test his legs,” Marichal confirmed.

 

BMC and Gilbert frustrated to have lost time in Luxembourg queen stage

Stage 3 of the ŠkodaTour de Luxembourg, the queen stage of the race, saw Loïc Vliegen make a five-rider breakaway after 50 kilometers of racing.

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Philippe Gilbert was the first BMC Racing Team rider across the line, finishing at the front of the main group, 13 second behind the four leaders. Gilbert now sits third on the General Classification going into tomorrow's final stage. 

 

Sport director, Jackson Stewart said:  "It was definitely a crazy first hour of racing for sure with part of the race being re-routed to take a different route up one of the climbs. When the break went, it had some of the big teams in it, so Loïc [Vliegen] made the move across to join them and the day really played out from there.

 

“The final circuit was pretty technical and the entrance towards it was technical as well so the bad weather conditions definitely made it difficult for everyone to fight for positions which definitely played a part in the break being able to get away and stay away on the final circuit. Phil lost a bit of time today with Lammertink winning the first sprint. It wasn’t ideal but he is still in a good position, sitting third on the GC.”

 

Loïc Vliegen said: “It was a hard day for me as ŠkodaTour de Luxembourg is my first race in five weeks. There were lots of attacks of the front of the bunch at the start and it wasn’t until we had covered 50 kilometers that the breakaway stuck so it was hard to make the move across. When we were out in front, the weather, especially the wind, made it really difficult but I am happy with how I did today. It was a good training exercise for me and I also think that we put pressure on the Dutch team, Roompot - Oranje Peloton. I am happy with my condition right now, there is still a little bit of work to do, but I am definitely on my way to being at my best for my next race.”

 

Dizziness takes in-form Jempy Drucker out of home race

Following his crash at the end of yesterday’s stage, Jempy Drucker was forced to withdraw from the ŠkodaTour de Luxembourg.

 

BMC Racing Team Dr Dario Spinelli said: “Following the crash at the end of Stage 2, Jempy [Drucker] was experiencing some dizziness and it was not in his best interest to continue racing. Further medical evaluation revealed that he has a cervical sprain. He will need to have a few days rest but after that he will be able to get back on the bike and continue with his race schedule.”

 

Strong Tosh van der Sande animates Luxembourg queen stage

At the Tour de Luxembourg, Lotto Soudal’s Tosh Van der Sande joined a break of five. They couldn’t stay ahead and the winner would come from a break of four that was formed later. Van der Sande was eighth at the finish.

 

“All day in the break and ended up 8th ! Not a bad result after all ! Moving up in GC ! #13th #fightforstig,” he tweeted after the stage.

 

Local Stölting rider still in contention after Luxembourg queen stage

The Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg (2.HC) stage three from Eschweiler to Differdange was the queen stage of the race with four category-1 climbs. Alex Kirsch (Stölting) was one of the best riders in the final but couldn’t get away from the peloton and finished in 11th place.

 

Kirsch was one of the best in the final, always climbing the Col de l’Europe in the first positions, the break was caught on the last lap, and the peloton was whittled down to only 21 riders at the finish. On the penultimate lap, four riders got away; Christian Mager was almost on their wheel, but dropped back again to support Kirsch. The other four could narrowly hold off the peloton on the final kilometres.

 

Kirsch finished 12 seconds behind in 11th place and dropped down to fourth overall ahead of the final stage. Rasmus Guldhammer also finished in the first peloton and sprinted to ninth place.

 

After the stage, Fabian Wegmann said: “It was a tough race. Lots of rain, and the break only got away after 50 km. As the five escapees were very strong riders, we rode tempo all day. The team showed another good performance today, protecting Alex and Rasmus well. In the final four riders got through with twelve seconds, and Turgis is now second overall – but it’s all very tight, with everything still to play for. There are several bonus seconds to picked up tomorrow, and the finish is uphill; if you’re not in the wheels there, you lose a couple of seconds immediately. So the race is still quite open.”

 

Another difficult day for Tinkoff at the Tour de Luxembourg

Nikolay Trusov was the first Tinkoff rider across the line, after a valiant effort to get in the day’s break.

 

While for the past two stages, a breakaway managed to escape fairly early on, the peloton was reluctant to let anyone get away today. Tinkoff tried hard to get in the break, with Nikolay Trusov and Michael Kolar each trying to make a move, but it wasn’t until the 50km mark that a break finally managed to escape.

 

Making it to the final kilometre with less than fifteen seconds however, the break knew that they could take the stage win, and the now four-strong break sprinted for the line. With Nikolay Trusov the first Tinkoff rider over the line, the team was already thinking about tomorrow’s final day.

 

Looking back on today’s racing, Sport Director, Lars Michaelsen, was pleased with the guys’ efforts to join the day’s escape.

 

“There was a lot of attacking going on. We had Trusov and Kolar trying to get into the moves, but five guys got away and stayed clear. The stage was shortened a bit due to a mud slide, but that didn't change the outcome as the steep climb on the finish was quite decisive. Tomorrow will be similar to today's stage and again we'll try and take what chances we have here.”

 

Unfortunately after some sickness, Adam Blythe pulled out of the race during today’s stage, as Michaelsen explained from the finish.

 

“Adam was having some issues with his stomach last night and this morning also and so he stopped the race.”