A solid display in the time trial saw the Belgian rack up his ninth top 3 finish of the season.
One of the few riders to not lose too many seconds on the complicated finish of the half-stage which split the peloton earlier today, Yves Lampaert confirmed the strong form which has earned him a spot on the Belgian team for the World Championships held later this month in Yorkshire, coming close to claiming his second UCI victory of the year.
The peloton remained in the charming town of Bardejov for a technical 7.4km individual time trial which promised to bring some interesting gaps in the general classification, and by the end of the day, delivered in this regard. Winner of the prologue at last year’s edition, Bob Jungels looked on track to repeat that result after blasting through the course and setting a provisional best time of 9:11, but his result was improved by Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), who went on to take the win.
One of the last Deceuninck – Quick-Step riders to roll down the ramp, Paris-Roubaix top 3 finisher Yves Lampaert went faster than his teammate, averaging 48.791km/h and stopping the clock in 9:06; just three seconds off the pace, Yves still had something to be content about at the end of the day, as he made a significant jump in the overall standings, where he now lies in second place with three days to go.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele/ Getty Images
