Criterium du Dauphine - Jakob Fuglsang aims to defend Yellow Jersey in last stage
Jun 16 2019 05:26 am CET
Photo of Jakob Fuglsang by Astana Pro Team
Astana's Jakob Fuglsang climbed to the top of the overall classification at the Criterium du Dauphine after displaying a strong performance in the queen stage of the race.
Fuglsang remained with the favourites until he launched an attack in the last kilometres. The rider took Emmanuel Buchmann with him and managed to create a gap with the rest of the favourites and despite Wout Poels caught them and took the day's victory, the second place in the stage was enough to get the Yellow jersey at the end of the course.
"Today went almost exactly how we planned it," the Dane commented. "We only had hoped that there was a possibility to create a bigger time gap and to go for a stage victory for Alexey Lutsenko or Magnus Cort, who were in the breakaway, or for me. For us, it was a good situation to have two men in the breakaway.
"In the end, it all came back together in one big group. I decided to attack because I didn’t want to ride all the way to the finish with them. But it was not easy to sprint for the stage win, as I was very cold, just like everybody else."
The last stage of the race will take the peloton from Cluses to Champery over a 113.5-kilometre route that will feature two climbs of the first category, one of the second category and four three-cat ascents, including a climbing finish.
"Tomorrow will be a hard stage. I know from back in 2017 when Richie Porte had to defend the lead, that it’s not easy to defend a jersey on the final day," Fuglsang explained. "For sure it’s going to be difficult. But the team is riding very strong so far and I hope this gives them the motivation as well to dig deep one more time. And I will just try to defend my jersey, we will see what tomorrow brings."
Criterium du Dauphine - Jakob Fuglsang aims to defend Yellow Jersey in last stage https://t.co/MyQAgmwb2T | @AstanaTeam @jakob_fuglsang#Dauphine
— CyclingPub (@CyclingPub) June 15, 2019
?Alex BROADWAY pic.twitter.com/7D5Da3IKCk
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDS