The young Belgian finished second after being caught in the last 30 meters of the Tour de l’Avenir queen stage.
The queen stage of the race was a brutal one, packing in one of the most insane elevation gains seen this season: 5000 vertical meters on the roads between Châtillon-sur-Cluses and the mythical Col de l’Iseran. Just 20 kilometers into the stage, the peloton began scaling Col des Saisies, and among the many riders who tried going clear in the early part of the parcours was also Soudal Quick-Step Devo’s Viktor Soenens.
Despite his best efforts, it proved to be a short-lived move, as the peloton came back quickly and pushed a hard tempo that made it impossible for others to attack. With each kilometer, the bunch was reduced to some 30-odd riders, including Henrique Bravo and Jasper Schoofs. Before the Cormet de Roseland, another breakaway formed, this time containing the Belgian, a stage winner at the Giro Next Gen a few months ago, and this group began the longest climb of the day with a hefty gap on the chasers.
Briefly dropped 60 kilometers from the finish, Jasper made it back to the lead group, where he later responded to a powerful acceleration that left him sandwiched between two riders of Bahrain Victorious. Unfazed by this, the 20-year-old hit the front to take some long pulls, shut down a dangerous acceleration with one kilometer remaining, and launched a fearless attack of his own which put him in pole-position for the win. In what ended up being a heartbreaking finale for Jasper, he was caught and passed just 30 meters from the finish, concluding second after what was an audacious ride at the front of the race.
Thanks to booking a place in the main breakaway of the day and surviving until the finish despite a late charge of the GC men, Schoofs recorded a remarkable jump in the general classification, where he now is fourth overall. Soudal Quick-Step Devo teammate Henrique Bravo also made his way into the top ten, sitting in seventh ahead of the penultimate stage.
It was one of the hardest races of my life!
“In the beginning of the stage I didn’t feel good, but I kept pushing and things became better and better. I really left everything out there, but I missed just a bit to cross the finish line victorious. It was a tough to miss out on the victory after all that effort, but overall I can be happy with my race. We’ll see what our team, who is in a good position, can still achieve on the last day”, Jasper said after the stage.
Photo credit: ©Antonio Baixauli / Getty Images
