© Skoda Tour Luxembourg
Skoda Tour Luxembourg: Hirschi on a roll
Marc Hirschi never wavered in his attempt to win the Skoda Tour Luxembourg, the second general classification victory of his career after winning the Tour of Hungary at the start of the season. The Swiss climber from the UAE Team Emirates team, took the yellow jersey after the time trial on Saturday, and maintained a three-second lead over his American teammate Brandon McNulty, while holding five seconds over Irishman Ben Healy (EF Education Easy Post) in third.
“It was a very stressful stage,” he said after a nervous final stage won by Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) who accelerated on the last climb of this last stage, less than 2 kilometers from the finish line. “A big breakaway went out at the start, which suited us, but some of the other teams wanted to bring it back and that made it tough. On the steep climb of the circuit I had to keep an eye on Healy because he was so close on the GC. In the end, we held the time gap, so I’m really happy. I had a very strong team with me who did an incredible job and kept me relaxed even though Healy was such a danger. It’s a race that suits me well and I’m delighted to have finally won here.”
The results: 1. Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) ; 2. McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) ; 3. Healy (EF Education Easy Post)…
Stages won by: Strong (Israel – Premier Tech) ; Biermans (Arkéa-Samsic) ; Healy (EF Education Easy Post) ; Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) ; Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team).
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Upcoming races:
26 September – 1st October: Cro Race, https://crorace.com/en/
28 September: Coppa Agostoni – Giro delle Brianze, https://www.coppaagostoni.it/?lang=fr
30 September: Giro dell’Emilia, http://www.gsemilia.it/
30 September: Grand Prix Cerami, http://www.grandprixcerami.be/
1st October: Tour de Vendée, https://www.tourdevendee.fr/