Our rider is on the verge of scoring his best GC result of the season.
The queen stage of the Tour de Hongrie delivered and reshuffled the general classification, and Soudal Quick-Step’s Junior Lecerf was in the thick of the action, taking a solid fourth place that put him in contention for an overall podium finish this week.
Starting in Mohacs but concluding in Pecs, the city known for the famous battle that took place there almost five centuries ago between Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, the penultimate leg of the race put on the table a perfectly flat first half followed by a completely different one, consisting of several laps built around a truly challenging climb.
To the surprise of many, despite the peloton’s best efforts, the original breakaway of the day made it and Jakob Soderqvist (Lidl-Trek) took the victory on this rain-soaked stage, which forced the organisers to cut the final lap but keep the GC times. Behind him, the climbers showed their intentions and made a move as soon as the last climb, averaging 10.2% over 1.8km, started.
Soudal Quick-Step did an excellent job to bring Junior Lecerf in a good position at the bottom of the ascent, and the young Belgian - who was tenth overall just a few weeks ago at the Tour de Romandie - didn’t disappoint, finishing in fourth place. Junior is just four seconds from the podium in the standings, with one day to go, one where the presence of many short hills could bring more changes to the general classification.
Winner of two stages in Hungary, Tim Merlier continues to lead the green jersey standings, where he keeps a margin of 12 points.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
