Kasper Asgreen gets involved in the sprint and finishes sixth in Halberstadt.
Three weeks after racing Clasica San Sebastian, Julian Alaphilippe resumed his season at the 34th edition of the Deutschland Tour, where he attacked inside the closing kilometer, spreading a bit of panic in the bunch as the sprint trains were trying to control things. The Frenchman, winner of twelve races this year, got caught on the flat section to the line, but his action derailed the trains and allowed Kasper Asgreen to get in the mix and take sixth place, ahead of many faster men.
A stage winner earlier this season at the Tour of California, where he also sealed the green jersey classification, Asgreen was an aggressive presence also during the stage, shooting out of the pack with ten kilometers to go and picking up a bonus second at the intermediate sprint, which elevated him into the top 5 overall at the end of the day.
Making his first appearance since 2015 in Germany, Julian was all smiles at the finish, where he sat down to talk about his return to competition: “I felt good and I really enjoyed racing again with the guys. I knew the chances of making it were slim, but still I attacked in the final to see how I feel after this break. I came at the Deutschland Tour without any specific goals or big expectations, just to add kilometers under my belt and help my teammates, so I hope we’ll have a nice week here in Germany, where the fans have already gave us a great welcome.”
Photo credit: ©Bas Czerwinski/ Getty Images
