Tirreno-Adriatico - Alexey Lutsenko: I was happy but in a lot of pain
Mar 17 2019 03:26 am CET
Astana
Astana's Alexey Lutsenko crossed the finish line in the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in the first position after a dramatic finale.
The Kazakh champion attacked from the first group at the 30-kilometre mark and soon created a gap with the chasers: Primoz Roglic, Adam Yates and Jakob Fuglsang. The rider crashed with 12 kilometres to go and managed to maintain the gap, then he crashed again close to the last kilometre, after which he was caught by the chasers.
The four riders arrived together to the final metres and Lutsenko launched a sprint that the others couldn't match. "It was a crazy race today," he said at the finish line. "I felt really good, so I decided to attack, but it was still far to the finish. Jakob Fuglsang did a great job controlling the group behind me, as the whole team performed really well today to get me and Jakob in a good position before the start of the final.
"I went in TT mode, but somehow I missed a corner and crashed at the side of the road, but I could only think about moving on and I was able to get on my bike really fast again. The second crash was worse and harder, and this time the three riders behind me including Jakob were able to come back. But in my head, I still didn’t lose the race, I still believed in a stage win. When I won the final sprint and took the victory, I was happy but in a lot of pain at the same time. I’m very proud that I took another win for my team, I really believe this is something we achieved all together because of our hard work at the several training camps."
Lutsenko climbed to the sixth position of the General Classification and sits at one minute and six seconds from Adam Yates.
#TirrenoAdriatico - Alexey Lutsenko (@AstanaTeam): I was happy but in a lot of pain https://t.co/4xqrNht0io
— CyclingPub (@CyclingPub) March 16, 2019
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