Our team won ten one-day races this season, including two Monuments.
Liège–Bastogne–Liège – the last major one-day race of the season – had a new route this year, which saw several climbs make a return after a few years of absence, as well as the finish being moved back to the center of the city, a first in nearly three decades.
The 256km-long race contained eleven hills, many having double-digit gradients, but attacks lacked, despite the redesigned route, due to the harsh weather conditions – driving rain, low temperatures and strong headwind. Deceuninck – Quick-Step took the reins in the peloton as soon as an eight-man breakaway went clear, chewing into the escapees’ advantage and neutralising several attempts coming inside 80 kilometers to go.
One by one, Rémi Cavagna, Dries Devenyns, Philippe Gilbert, Enric Mas, Pieter Serry and Petr Vakoč pulled at the front of the bunch and kept Julian Alaphilippe out of the wind as the race, running its 105th edition, was getting closer and closer to crunch time. As was the case in recent times at “La Doyenne”, the race-winning move came on the last ascent, which this year was Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3km, 11%).
The inclement weather took its toll on a number of riders at that point late in the race, one of these being Julian Alaphilippe, who couldn’t respond to Jakob Fuglsang’s attack midway up the climb, which would eventually see the Dane take a solo victory in Liège. Alaphilippe came home 1:30 down on the winner, but the Frenchman put the result behind him and looked at the bright side of things after concluding his first part of the season.
“Today was a very tough day due to the bad weather, but that didn’t stop us from taking the responsibility and controlling things, giving everything out there. I was on my limit on the last climb, but I’m not disappointed and don’t have any regrets, just words of praise for my teammates, who put in an amazing effort and of whom I am extremely proud.”
The UCI Individual Classification leader, winner of nine races so far this year, including Milano-Sanremo, Strade Bianche and Flèche Wallonne, continued: “My season has been unbelievable up until this point. These past couple of months are something I will always remember and the wins I’ve notched up with the help of my team give me immense joy. Now it’s time to rest and recover before the second part of the season, where I hope to continue my trajectory and bring the team other beautiful victories.”
For Deceuninck – Quick-Step, it was the final outing in a one-day race this spring, which will go down as one of the most outstanding in the history of the team, who has captured ten one-day races with seven different riders – Cadel Evans Road Race (Elia Viviani), Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Harelbeke (Zdenek Stybar), Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Bob Jungels), Le Samyn (Florian Sénéchal), Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo and Flèche Wallonne (Julian Alaphilippe), Scheldeprijs (Fabio Jakobsen) and Paris-Roubaix (Philippe Gilbert) – a remarkable series that cemented our position at the top of the UCI World Team Classification, which we’ll lead for the 58th week in a row.
e team, who has captured ten one-day races with seven different riders – Cadel Evans Road Race (Elia Viviani), Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Harelbeke (Zdenek Stybar), Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Bob Jungels), Le Samyn (Florian Sénéchal), Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo and Flèche Wallonne (Julian Alaphilippe), Scheldeprijs (Fabio Jakobsen), Paris-Roubaix (Philippe Gilbert) – a remarkable series that cemented our position at the top of the UCI World Team Classification, which we’ll lead for the 58th week in a row.
Photo credit: ©Nico Vereecken/ Getty Images
