Gil Gelders finished top five at the Tour Down Under Criterium, in our first outing of 2024.
It’s been a long wait and a cold and boring winter, but cycling has finally returned and it’s here to stay for the next ten months! Saturday brought our first race of the year, with the Soudal Quick-Step boys pinning on a number for the traditional Tour Down Under Criterium, held in downtown Adelaide.
One hour of fast racing plus three laps to top it off were on the menu, and it took only seconds for the first attacks of the day. Soudal Quick-Step was right in the thick of the action, driving the pace in the breakaway group before things came back, but the pace continued being a relentless one, as several teams were determined to prevent the sprinters from fighting for victory on Wakefield Street.
Our riders made sure of not missing any of the big moves, and when another strong group got away in the closing part of the race, Gil Gelders was there for the Wolfpack. The 21-year-old neo-pro, winner of Gent-Wevelgem and a Girobio stage in his last U23 season, impressed with the huge amount of work he put in there, helping the leaders establish a solid gap over a bunch who was running out of road to bring them back. Despite the effort, Gil still had enough left to sprint at the finish, as the group stayed away, and concluded in fifth place behind Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers), who took the win.
“I’m very happy with my result. It was a very hard and fast race, but we followed all the right moves and did a great job as a team. When I joined the group, I didn’t know if it would go all the way to the finish, but we worked well together and managed to hold off the bunch. In the finale I hesitated a bit and I think this ended up costing me the podium, but overall, I’m very happy to start the season this way”, said Gil after the race.
Photo credit: ©Wout Beel
