The Belgian was one of the most combative riders of the week’s second-longest stage.
Laurenz Rex put Soudal Quick-Step in the spotlight on the hilly roads between Tagliacozzo and Martinsicuro, where Thursday’s stage four concluded. After the start from the small town in the Abruzzo, which had previously welcomed a race at the 1935 edition of the Giro del Lazio, a dozen riders snapped the elastic and established a four-minute margin.
Among those was also Laurenz Rex; the Belgian - sixth in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and runner-up at the Samyn Classic - was one of the most active riders in the breakaway, which ended up spending four hours at the front of the race. The escapees got along together and made the peloton work hard in order to bring them back, the catch happening only inside the last 20 kilometers of the stage, just before the Tortoreto (1.5km, 8.4%) climb. There, a couple of riders zipped away and arrived at the finish in that small group, from which Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) took the victory.
Speaking of his brave effort in the breakaway, where he impressed not just with the long pulls he put in but also with the way he kept believing in the group’s chances, Laurenz said at the finish: “I was keen on trying something today, so I attacked soon after the start and managed to book a spot in in front group. It ended up being a great day of racing. Of course, when you spend so much time at the front, you hope to go all the way, but those final climbs were really hard and it was difficult to still do something after going à bloc the entire day.”
At the end of the day, I am content because I could produce a strong performance and I feel that my form is improving after the January crash, which bodes well for my next goals with the team.
In the general standings of the race, Louis Vervaeke is now Soudal Quick-Step’s top rider, after coming home with the second chasing group.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
