Gregor Mühlberger wins sixth stage at BinckBank Tour: My victory was a surprise even for me
Aug 18 2018 07:42 pm CET
Bora-hansgrohe
Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-hansgrohe) has taken the victory at the sixth stage of the BinckBank Tour. The rider launched a last moment attack and took his first win in the WorldTour.
The sixth stage of the Dutch-Belgian race was 182.2 kilometres long between Riemst and Sittard-Geleen. The profile of the stage reminded of the one of a Spring Classic race and the day started with a breakaway of four riders: Matthias Brändle, Nick van der Lijke, Frederik Backaert and Alexis Gougeard.
The breakaway was caught with 45 kilometres to go and around ten kilometres later Maciej Bodnar (Bora-hansgrohe) and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) jumped from the peloton and created a considerable gap. With 15 kilometres remaining, there was a crash in the pack that affected riders like Stefan Küng and Michael Valgren.
Five kilometres later, Greg van Avermaet (BMC), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) joined the men in front. With eight kilometres to go, Wellens attacked and none of his companions seemed to react, they were soon caught by a reduced group and Quick-Step Floors' Zdenek Stybar went on to chase the Lotto Soudal rider.
At three kilometres from the end, Stybar, Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-hansgrohe), and Dylan van Baarle (Sky) managed to bridge to the front. Mühlberger launched a strong attack with 800 metres to go and took the stage victory, Wellens was second and Stybar finished third.
Bahrain-Merida's Matej Mohoric has managed to keep the leader's jersey.
"All my teammates did a stellar job today, Rudi, Jay and Maciej are in a really good shape, as you could see during the race," said the Bora-hansgrohe rider at the end of the day.
"My victory was a surprise even for me, because the course, especially the finale, would fit Jay more actually. But as there was nothing to lose, I just grabbed the opportunity with both hands and fought for the win. I more than happy it worked out so well, and to celebrate my first WorldTour victory together with my teammates."
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