David Gaudoutte won the final stage of the Tour of Luxembourg after a fascinating final stage. In a tough final stage, he was the cleverest (and strongest) of a small group that managed to pull away from the rest after several attacks. Mathieu van der Poel tried hard to hang on to the final victory but was unable to do so. The final victory went to Antonio Tiberi, who was also in Gaudoutte’s group.
The final day of the Luxembourg stage race could have gone either way! Van der Poel reclaimed the lead after the time trial, but Hirschy, Ayuso and Vansevenant were close behind. Sunday was full of fun as it was a pretty dangerous uphill race! With ups and downs all day, from a maximum of 2.2km to just 800m of climbs, it should be spectacular!
The race started early (including Van der Poel), but in the end Ryan, Staune-Mittet and Milesi formed the lead pack.
We started the 177km race without Bart Lemmen, who was unwell. The match between Mersch and the capital of Luxembourg was on! Soon, and still far away! An elite group managed to break away from the pack, including, of course, Hirschy, van der Poel and the other favourites. Soon more and more dropped out, and Christophe Laporte, Andreas Kron and Giovanni Lonardi also decided to withdraw from the race.
Meanwhile, the leaders realized it might be too early to cause trouble and let the pack catch up – at least, with the exception of Archie Ryan (EF Education Easypost), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar) and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Visma | Lease-A-Bike), who continued to stay at the front of the pack.
Kelderman, van der Poel and Symonds on guard (and active)
Ryan, Milesi and Staune-Mittet were at the front of the pack for quite some time, with Lidl-Trek and Soudal-QuickStep in the lead. A lot can happen on the home circuit, but with 15km to go, two of the three were still in the lead! It was Ryan and Staune-Mittet, so they were solid. When would the thinned pack explode and the fireworks begin?
With 13km to go, that’s exactly what happened. Hirschy threw the baton first, with van der Poel, Quinn Simmons, Vancevenant, David Gordeaux, Wilco Kelderman and several others joining him. We were free! Gaps opened up, but closed quickly. We saw attacks everywhere, but also the neutralisation of those attacks. A race by the rules. Amazing!
Van der Poel can’t stop Tiberi’s coup; Gaudou wins stage
Van der Poel, whose team-mate had dropped out quite early, felt danger from all sides. The 29-year-old from Cappelen was attacked from all sides, but no one was able to escape. Was this in the world champion’s favour? At one point, the group including Tiberi (and Gaudou) managed to break away from the rest of the group, but the group behind no longer seemed able to catch up. The Italian from Bahrain Victorious did not ask for a takeover in the group, but pushed on alone. Was this the decisive move?
Tiberi, Gaudeau, Simons and Jordan Jegat had a 45 second lead over van der Poel and co with 3km to go. But there was still a climb to go! On that little hill, Tiberi, who was only interested in the GC, kept leading, but just before the finish Gaudeau took off like a rocket and won the stage. Van der Poel beat everyone and everything in the “pack” (Pedersen stayed), but it wasn’t enough to take the GC. The GC went to Tiberi.
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2024 Tour of Luxembourg Stage 5 Results
Results provided by FirstCycling.com