Rising form. Sagan finished again with the best, Ewan took the triumph – PRAVDA.sk

Slovak cyclist Peter Sagan from the Bora-Hansgrohe team took fourth place in Friday’s 5th stage of the Around Benelux race. He repeated the placement from Thursday.

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03.09.2021 15:15, updated: 17:24

After 188 kilometers, his great Australian rival Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) triumphed in front of the Italian Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) and Danny van Poppel from the Netherlands (Wanty – Gobert).

The other two Slovak cyclists in the 5th stage at the Around Benelux finished far behind. Juraj Sagan scored the 93rd place with a deficit of 5:10 min and Erik Baška was one hundred and nineteenth (+8: 35).

Before the final weekend, the new leader of the race was the Swiss Stefan Küng from the team Groupama – FDJ. He is 2 seconds ahead of Australian Luke Durbridge and six seconds ahead of Frenchman Christoph Laport.

Peter Sagan is fifty-second with a deficit of 3:14 min. J. Sagan has a bad place and Baška is on the 123rd place in the field of 140 riders. In the scoring competition, Peter Sagan is third with a deficit of 22 points on the Belgian leader Tim Merlier.

Read more If he didn’t finish, Sagan would address him. Will long-time opponents be colleagues?

For 27-year-old Ewan, it was the 52nd victory in the professional career, but the first since June 12, 2021 and the Baloise Belgium Tour.

It was Ewan who caused the fall of Petr Sagan at this year’s Tour de France, and both riders had to resign prematurely from the famous race.

“It was very demanding, my team did a great job. In the end they got me in a good position, I want to thank them for it. The conclusion suited me, it was a bit uphill, but I like that.

We had the motivation to win today. We have a strong team and I am glad that we succeeded, “said Caleb Ewan in the first reaction after his triumph.

Sagan evaluated the stage on the team’s website:

“The stage was long and evolving as expected. Our team worked well and I was in the final circuit at the beginning of the peloton.

I checked my position, which seems to be a good sign after my knee injury and training in the mountains. I did my best in the sprint finish. “

The same source also quoted Bora’s sports director Ján Valach:

“Our strategy was to get Peter into the final mass sprint to try to win. Our competitors worked very well from the start stage.

Erik and Juraj closed early escapes and we also had a small escape with three competitors. The final circuit started to race.

Peter finished fourth in the sprint range, doing well at the head of the peloton. Lukas Pöstlberger again moved up in the overall standings. “

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Friday’s stage around the Benelux had a classic profile and the cyclists overcame 15 short but abundant climbs during it. Three hundred meters long Letenberg with an average of 7 percent overcame up to four times.

Peter Sagan was active and in the final kilometer he built a great position to attack the victory. He gradually moved from fourth to second place and had only Italian Colbrelli in front of him.

However, about 200 m before the finish of Sagan with Colbrelli, the Ewan expressway overtook from the left and Sagan was also defeated by the Dutchman Danny van Poppel a few meters before the tape.

Read more He won the mass run of the package. Sagan performed again

For the 31-year-old Sagan, this is already the second fourth place in the 17th year of the Around Benelux race, formerly known as the BinckBank Tour.

On Saturday, the program includes a hilly 6th stage, which runs from Ottignies-Neuve to Houffalize and measures 208 km.