Rain, cobbles and three of the best cyclists in the world battling for the overall victory. Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) fully enjoyed his day at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday in Belgium.
Crowd favourite, Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), won ahead of Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).
Registered for the event, Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) did not take the start due to illness.
“The level is extremely high and on top of that the race was difficult, not only from the way it was run, but also with the intermittent rain. It was quite a Belgian race! “Sustained Zukowsky, 56th of the day (8 minutes 26 seconds).
The Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides athlete is back in competition after being on the sidelines for a good part of February. He contracted a virus while participating in the Tour of Saudi Arabia.
“It knocked me out for two weeks and it was quite a shock to my system. Coming back from that is quite a process, but my team is very professional and they support me very well. […] I am not in the form yet and I am not yet at the level where I would like to be to perform, but I give my 110% every day. And today (Friday), I fought until the end. »
Riding on the cobblestones and bergs that we will find in part at the next Tour of Flanders where he should line up are other boxes that were ticked on his list on Friday.
“Positioning (in the peloton) is super important and it’s something I learn on the job and have to learn it super fast. On the one hand, I’m disappointed, because I want so much more, but with what I have at the moment, if I give it my all, I can’t be too disappointed anyway. »
The Quebecer will hang a bib again on Wednesday, in the race Through Flanders.
Guillaume Boivin (Israel–Premier Tech) had prepared his New Zealand teammate Corbin Strong’s final sprint perfectly the day before and he was already sure that his role would not continue into Friday’s final. The reason: the finish of the fifth stage presented between Tortosa and Lo Port (177 kilometers) culminated at the top of the Mirador del Portell, an 8.6 kilometer hors category pass at an average gradient of 8.8%.
The Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) won the stage and especially the precious bonus seconds to consolidate his lead which is now 10 seconds over the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick Step).
For his part, the Canadian Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) lost places in the last two kilometers and finished in eighth place (56 seconds). The Ontarian, however, remains sixth (1 minute 54 seconds) in the general classification.
Boivin played his last cards for Woods before leaving two other teammates to continue the work with 11 kilometers to go. At this time, the breakaway of the day still held a one-minute priority. The Montrealer then finished at his own pace and finished 145th.
Led by the Soudal-Quick Step of Evenepoel, the group of favorites took over the last fugitives 6 and a half kilometers from the summit. The Belgian and world champion attacked two kilometers later, followed by Primoz Roglic in his wheel.
Michael Woods could not take the blow and remained in the second group with Mikael Landa (Bahrain – Victorious) and Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost). Shortly after, Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) joined the leading group and his teammate Marc Soler forced the pace.
Evenepoel tried the knockout blow 300 meters from the end, but the high percentage of the road finally sawed his legs 50 meters from the line. Roglic jumped at the chance to win.
The sixth and penultimate stage of the Tour of Catalonia will link Martorell and Molins de Rei on Saturday.
