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Lotto Soudal: André Greipel third in Tour stage to Liège pubblicato il 03/07/2017

Lotto Soudal: André Greipel third in Tour stage to Liège

The Tour de France visited Belgium today. The second stage was a sprint stage of 203.5 kilometres between Düsseldorf and Liège. Marcel Kittel was the fastest, André Greipel finished third.
 
It rained a lot during the day, but that didn’t keep Thomas De Gendt from doing his job: pulling at the front of the peloton for many kilometres, in pursuit of a front group of four. Immediately after the start Thomas Boudat, Yoann Offredo, Taylor Phinney and Laurent Pichon had escaped the pack. The peloton let them go, but didn’t grant them more than three and a half minutes advantage. As the race continued, more sprint teams put a guy at the front.
 
With about twenty kilometres to go the leaders had half a minute advantage left. After he had claimed the second KOM point of the day on the second fourth category climb, Taylor Phinney went solo. Yoann Offredo rejoined him. The duo was only caught just before entering the final kilometre. Marcel Kittel sprinted to victory, ahead of French champion Arnaud Démare and André Greipel.
 
André Greipel: “The stage started perfectly for us. There was a front group of four with a small lead. Thomas De Gendt immediately started pulling in the peloton and got help from Julien Vermote of Quick-Step. Soon, other teams followed. We didn’t have to do all the work. At the end we had to do a major effort, as Offredo and Phinney still had energy left.”
 
“As a team we could line up, we were well positioned. There was a headwind in the last kilometre and the last 200 metres were slightly uphill. No rider had a teammate ahead of him anymore. Peter Sagan was in the lead too early and held back, and so everyone did. Start the sprint with 250 metres to go was still too soon, so I had to wait. Kittel was very strong and deserved the win. It is very promising that I was in the mix for the stage win.”
 
Tony Gallopin finished the stage today after he hurt his ankle in yesterday’s time trial.
 
Tony Gallopin: “It hurt when I had to accelerate or ride uphill. I am glad I reached the finish. I will try to survive and take it day by day. This situation is far from perfect, but I don’t want to give up.” 
 



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