The news at 7 pm with a stage win for Fabio Jakobsen in Valencia
A bump with the top at 15 kilometers from the finish could have worn out the sprinters, but a jab from Dylan Teuns was not sharp enough to dump the fast men.
Remco Evenepoel sampled it all from the front row: the yellow jersey was constantly on hand and didn’t get involved in a nasty slide by David Dekker in a ravine, luckily apparently without much harm.
Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl also did not relinquish control in the final kilometres, as a result of which Evenepoel also escaped a fall in the belly of the peloton.
Everything ran smoothly and the leader still had enough fuel in the tank to pull off a time trial towards the red rag.
In the treacherous final kilometer – slightly sloping – Michael Morkov was unable to assist Fabio Jakobsen, but the Dutch top favorite searched and found the perfect route.
Andrea Pasqualon did everything by the book for Alexander Kristoff, but the Italian was above all the perfect opportunity pacer for Jakobsen.
With its powerful start, it made the difference in no time, the rest was by no means in the photo. Remco Evenepoel was even 7th.
“It was a difficult ride: I had to work for the win”, Fabio Jakobsen gasped.
“My team checked all day with Josef Cerny. Then Mikkel Honoré made a long inning and then a lead-out of the entire team followed.”
“Remco Evenepoel was again one of the strongest. It’s great that he does that in yellow.”
“Without Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert we would have done the perfect lead-out, but because of their maneuver I had to find my own way.”
“I launched my sprint 200 meters from the end, but I still had some cramps due to the heat and the first race days.”
“That I seemed supreme? I had a normal winter without bad luck. I was able to do all the training sessions.”
“I already have this victory and tomorrow we will go for the classification again with Remco Evenepoel.”
