Tour de Luxembourg: Schmid just misses out on top 10 result
The Škoda Tour de Luxembourg has come to an end. The five days of racing on home soil flew by, resulting in a very satisfying performance of the Leopard Pro Cycling riders.
The race summarized
No easy start to this year's Škoda Tour de Luxembourg. Although the first stage had a typical breakaway and controlling peloton, the finish was a tough one, directly after a difficult uphill section. Here it was Italian Diego Ulissi who turned out to be the strongest, as only Mauro Schmid was the only Leopard Pro Cycling rider to stay with the first group. Unfortunately Colin Heiderscheid had to leave the race as he missed the time cut. The stage was marked also by unsafe conditions with many parked vehicles on the road.
This made that the biggest part of the second stage was neutralized after new issues right after the start. As the peloton approached the final circuit, racing restarted and Leopard's Jan Maas went on the attack, but he and his breakaway companion were caught at just 4 kilometers from the finish. In the end it was Arnaud Démare who was able to win the sprint. One day later it all came down to a sprint again in a stage were not too much happened. German John Degenkolb showed his fast legs by crossing the line in first, followed in the same group by Maas, Schmid and Arthur Kluckers.
It all kicked off in the penultimate stage to Differdange with the Col de l'Europe as the main obstacle on the day. After an attentive ride, Mauro Schmid represented the Leopard outfit in an attacking group of four with also Tim Wellens and Diego Ulissi in the final kilometers. At the last ascent of the aforementioned climb, Schmid had to let his fellow attackers go, but was still able to finish seventh as part of the first chasing group. Also Jan Maas showed his strong legs by claiming position seventeen. With one stage to go, Schmid found himself back in ninth overall, just 38 seconds down to race leader Ulissi and in the same time as the leader of the young riders classification. Bad news in this stage was that Szymon Rekita and Miguel Heidemann had to leave the race. Rekita did not feel well, did not have the power and in the next few days some analysis and check-ups will take place. Heidemann was forced to withdraw from the race because of gastrointestinal problems.
With great morale, Leopard Pro Cycling took the start of the final stage from Mersch back to Luxembourg. First, twelve riders went up the road, but it all came down to the final with the tough Pabeierbierg. One could see that Mauro gave it his all by showing himself in the final ten kilometers. This put the pressure on the others in the top ranks of the GC but unfortunately for Leopard, more attacks took place and these overruled Mauro's. Because of this attempt, Mauro did not have the power anymore to follow the next moves that decided over the overall victory. He finished the stage in fourteenth and took the eleventh position in the overall results. Just behind, Jan Maas finished as eighteenth on the day and nineteenth overall.
Result Škoda Tour de Luxembourg (2.Pro)
1. Diego Ulissi (ITA) - UAE-Team Emirates
11. Mauro Schmid (SUI) + 0'59"
19. Jan Maas (NED) + 3'13"
75. Arthur Kluckers (LUX) + 21'55"
DNF. Miguel Heidemann (GER) - Stage 4
DNF. Szymon Rekita (POL) - Stage 4
OTL. Colin Heiderscheid (LUX) - Stage 1
Next race?
27.09 | Paris-Chauny (classique) (UCI 1.1) | France
Photographer
(c) RTL.lu & Roland Miny (pressphoto.lu)
Mauro Schmid, 11th overall
"I was quite surprised about my performance at the Škoda Tour de Luxembourg. Last weekend, I rode with the national team at the Orlen Nations Grand Prix and I crashed there. Between the two races, I only had one day of rest, but luckily I felt better and better from day to day here. I knew that the hard stages this week would suit me well and therefore I gave it my all to go for a good result each day. In the end it worked out pretty well for me, but also for the team and its sponsors, since this Luxembourgish race is of course the season highlight for Leopard Pro Cycling."
Markus Zingen, Sports Director & Team Manager
"Even though we unfortunately lost Colin, Miguel and Szymon along the way, we can be happy with our performance this week, especially seeing the high level of the bunch at this year's Škoda Tour de Luxembourg. In the final stage we went all-in. Arthur and Jan did a very solid job by helping Mauro getting into the right position to have a go. It is nice to see that this also led to a top 20 overall result for Jan. Mauro himself lost the top 10 in the GC because of his attack, but of course the eleventh position is still very good. Sometimes one needs to take a risk in order to get a very big result. Based on this week's performances, we are looking forward to the next races with a good morale."
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