Emma Norsgaard Jørgensen Wins Opening Stage of Setmana Ciclista Valenciana
Danish sprinter Emma Norsgaard Jørgensen won the first stage of the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, 107km from Gandia to Cullera. Emma and her teammates were able to navigate their way around a crash with 4km leading into the finish and after a superb lead-out, she proved that she is well and truly back after a period away from racing due to injury last year, as she crossed the line in first place. Team Bigla-KATUSHA also won the prize for the best team on today’s opener.
“My team supported me really well the whole day, and it was very encouraging that they had faith in me to get a good result,” said Jørgensen. It was also important that we knew that the finale was difficult, with some tricky corners and a dangerous downhill section, so we knew we had to be careful there. Thanks very much to my teammates, who protected me heading into the finale, and then did a perfect lead-out. I’m happy that I was able to reward all their hard work with the win today.”
Evenepoel Takes First Ever Uphill Victory
Remco Evenepoel continued his exceptional start to the season Thursday afternoon, when he capitalised on João Almeida’s tremendous work and stunned his rivals on Alto da Foía, where he surged to victory in spectacular fashion and took not just the stage (making it two in a row for Deceuninck – Quick-Step in Algarve), but also the yellow jersey.
Stage 2 came down to the final kilometer, where Evenepoel launched a perfectly timed and perfectly executed attack at 500 meters to go, a fantastic acceleration which saw him zip clear of the reduced bunch that up until that point had been kept together by Almeida.
“Yesterday, when we discussed the tactics, we agreed that we should remain attentive and do our race, and the team did an extraordinary job the entire day, working for me and keeping me out of the wind. During the stage I had good sensations in the legs and I said to myself that I would try something in the final kilometer. For that reason, when one guy attacked, I asked João to bring him back and keep the pace high. Then, with 500 meters to go, I went full gas and managed to keep the chasers at bay despite the strong headwind in the final 100 meters,” Evenepoel said at the finish.
Provisional Rosters Announced for 2020 UAE Tour
The Provisional Entry List for the 2020 UAE Tour, the one and only WorldTour race in the Middle East, is revealed. 20 teams will start, including 18 of the 19 UCI WorldTeams.
Riders confirmed on the Provisional Entry List include seven-time Grand Tour winner Chris Froome, choosing the UAE Tour for his comeback; last year’s UAE Tour runner-up and 2018 UCI Road World Champion, Alejandro Valverde (winner of the 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour and two-times stage winner atop Jebel Hafeet); 2019 Giro d’Italia King of the Mountains Giulio Ciccone; and Tadej Pogačar, the young Slovenian winner of the 2019 Tour of California, and three stages of the 2019 Vuelta a España.
Fuglsang Takes Second Stage Win at Ruta del Sol
Jakob Fuglsang streaked to his second stage win in the Ruta del Sol on a punchy uphill finish in Ubeda
The stage had its big showdown in the final meters, as the race headed up to Ubeda. The Kazakh team pulled hard to close the gap to the escapees and Jakob Fuglsang finished the great work off with a well-timed attack on the last corner to take his second stage win at the Vuelta a Andalucía. The Danish rider still leads the overall ranking and was able to increase his lead.
“The first two hours of the race were really hard but my teammates did an amazing job working for me all day and after following all of the moves at the end, I used the last corner as my opportunity to go for the win. I looked at the road book this morning and I knew that if I wanted to go for the victory, it would be really important to be in the right position at that point.
“Tomorrow will be another tough day but once again, I hope to defend the yellow jersey. Of course, we have a lot of teams here who are looking to make the race hard but so far, my team has been fantastic. Thinking ahead to Sunday, the TT looks difficult but if I have a little bit of an advantage, I think it could suit me,” said a happy Jakob Fuglsang after his second stage win.
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