The Frenchman triumphed on the fourth and final stage after a strong ride.

Soudal Quick-Step bookended this year’s Czech Tour in style. After neo-pro Luke Lamperti sprinted to victory on the opening day, Julian Alaphilippe brought down the curtain over the race with a spectacular win in Sternberk, where the event came to a conclusion Sunday afternoon.

A hilly local circuit that the peloton had to cover four times was where the stage came to life in the final 30 kilometers, as soon as the original breakaway got caught. Kasper Asgreen and Antoine Huby tried to shake things up by going on the attack, two successive moves that had the desired result, as the peloton split on Sternberk, the 1km climb which averaged 8.1% and featured some tricky cobblestone sections.

The penultimate time up there, a strong twelve-man group featuring Julian Alaphilippe zipped clear and opened a nice gap on the chasers. On the fast descent, Huby managed to come back and proved to be of great help for his countryman, setting a strong tempo and keeping things together. As the group tackled the steepest part of the hill, Alaphilippe produced a solid acceleration that only yellow jersey Marc Hirchi (UAE Team Emirates) could match after some considerable effort, and the two powered clear of the rest.

The duo worked well together, but the chasers somehow bridged across with 800 meters to go, complicating the finale. Julian kept his composure and measured his effort perfectly just as the road began to rise in the closing 300 meters, letting Hirschi open the sprint before kicking out on a right-hand bend and taking his 44th pro victory.

“I am very happy with this stage win, which wouldn’t have been possible without the beautiful work of my teammates, who controlled the stage and brought me where I needed to be going into the final laps. The circuit, with the cobbles and that descent, was hard and demanding, but I enjoyed it. I felt good today and gave my best, so I’m of course delighted with this success. It’s good for morale before travelling to Paris”, said the two-time World Champion.

 

Photo credit: ©Jan Brychta

Race details

1 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
3:01:30
2 Marc Hirschi
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
3 Sergio Higuita García
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
0:00
4 Mark Donovan
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
0:00
5 Kevin Vermaerke
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
6 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
7 Andrew August
INEOS Grenadiers
0:00
8 Kamiel Bonneu
Team Flanders - Baloise
0:00
9 Marco Brenner
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:00
10 Andreas Leknessund
Uno-X Mobility
0:00
13 Luke Lamperti
Soudal Quick-Step
0:22
28 Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal Quick-Step
1:44
74 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal Quick-Step
5:02
88 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
7:36
93 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
7:36
DNF Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
-03:01:30
1 Marc Hirschi
UAE Team Emirates
14:06:40
2 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
0:28
3 Sergio Higuita García
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
0:33
4 Kevin Vermaerke
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:44
5 Marco Brenner
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:44
6 Michael Storer
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:56
7 Andrew August
INEOS Grenadiers
1:00
8 Mark Donovan
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
1:01
9 Kamiel Bonneu
Team Flanders - Baloise
1:01
10 Andreas Leknessund
Uno-X Mobility
1:18
26 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
6:30
39 Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal Quick-Step
13:24
65 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
27:53
77 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
31:02
95 Luke Lamperti
Soudal Quick-Step
42:27
102 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal Quick-Step
46:45
1 Marc Hirschi
UAE Team Emirates
65 pt
2 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
46 pt
3 Sergio Higuita García
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
44 pt
4 Kevin Vermaerke
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
41 pt
5 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
30 pt
6 Luke Lamperti
Soudal Quick-Step
28 pt
7 Lukáš Kubiš
Elkov - Kasper
26 pt
8 Marco Brenner
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
26 pt
9 Mark Donovan
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
26 pt
10 Thomas Gloag
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
25 pt
1 Michal Schuran
ATT Investments
20 pt
2 Lukáš Kubiš
Elkov - Kasper
16 pt
3 Marc Hirschi
UAE Team Emirates
14 pt
4 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
10 pt
5 Thomas Gloag
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
8 pt
6 Paul Double
Team Polti Kometa
8 pt
7 Tomáš Kalojíros
Pierre Baguette Cycling
6 pt
8 Kevin Vermaerke
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
6 pt
9 Mats Wenzel
Lidl - Trek Future Racing
6 pt
10 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
4 pt
18 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal Quick-Step
2 pt
1 Marco Brenner
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
14:07:24
2 Andrew August
INEOS Grenadiers
0:16
3 Johannes Staune-Mittet
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
3:55
4 Giacomo Villa
Bingoal WB
4:59
5 Mats Wenzel
Lidl - Trek Future Racing
5:36
6 Alexander Hajek
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
7:08
7 Dario Igor Belletta
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
10:09
8 Finlay Pickering
Bahrain - Victorious
11:13
9 Andrii Ponomar
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
12:29
10 Michael Leonard
INEOS Grenadiers
13:00
23 Luke Lamperti
Soudal Quick-Step
41:43
1 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 42:31:57
2 Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 1:05
3 Team Polti Kometa 1:47
4 UAE Team Emirates 1:53
5 Uno-X Mobility 5:10
6 Team Corratec - Vini Fantini 6:06
7 Tudor Pro Cycling Team 7:45
8 Intermarché - Wanty 10:22
9 Team Flanders - Baloise 12:00
10 INEOS Grenadiers 19:05

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