The 20-year-old Belgian celebrates his second win of the season.
Gil Gelders delivered a huge result for the Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team, soloing to victory Monday afternoon in Cherasco, on a finish identical to the one of the 2010 Gran Piemonte, which was won by Philippe Gilbert, in similar fashion.
Stage two from San Francesco Al Campo was a hilly one, and on one of the numerous climbs tackled in the second part of the race, Gil pulled away with two other riders. Despite this move coming more than 50 kilometers from home, the trio worked well together and managed to keep at all times a good gap over the peloton. On the final hill of the day, with just 1500 meters to go, Gelders danced clear of his opponents and arrived alone at the finish, where he celebrated his second stage win at the U23 Giro d’Italia, after the one in Peveragno, last season.
This spectacular victory brought an extra visit to the podium, where Gelders received the ciclamino jersey, awarded to the leader of the points classification. Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team’s perfect day was rounded out by William Junior Lecerf, Lars Craps and Pepijn Reinderink all concluding in the top ten.
“I am super happy! Coming into the race after a solid altitude camp with the team, my goal was to take a stage, and it’s incredible that I managed to do that so early in the week. I didn’t know that Philippe Gilbert – who is an inspiration for me – won on this finish in 2010, but it feels great to share this with him”, Gil explained after his win. “I’m not a real sprinter, but I have that instinct of finishing it off, which I showed also in Gent-Wevelgem, where I prevailed from a small group. Now that we have this stage in the bag, we are hungry for more results here and we’ll do our best to get them.”
