Our Junior team took its eighth victory of the year after another strong showing.
Simon Defrance is enjoying a dream season so far, his second in the Soudal Quick-Step U19 jersey. The 17-year-old, victorious last month in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and Nokere Koerse, sealed the general classification at the STER Van Zuid Limburg, the four-day stage race that took place in Belgium.
Third on the first two days and fourth on the penultimate one, a 6.6km individual time trial, entered the last stage in third place overall, just 14 seconds behind teammate Vic De Smet, who was leading the overall standings. Running from Riemst to Mopertingen, over almost 120 kilometers, the last leg of the race was an action-packed one, with attacks flying left and right, which didn’t come as a surprise given how small the gaps were in the ranking.
The decisive moment of the day came with 50 kilometers to go. Simon jumped from the peloton to cover a dangerous move and ended up being part of a group that swelled to twelve riders after they caught the breakaway. Their gap quickly reached one minute and a half, at which point it became clear the peloton’s chances of bringing them back were slim. Defrance concluded with that group, and as he was the best placed rider on the GC there, he moved to the top of the standings, winning his first stage race.
It’s a fantastic victory for me and for the team.
“It wasn’t easy, but thanks to an extremely strong team, we did it. We had the yellow jersey with Vic going into the final stage; he was really strong, and I’d like to emphasize the level of all the riders on the team throughout all the stages. We were so strong together, and I never could have achieved this without their help. I’m genuinely happy in this squad, I feel great, and I’m confident we can achieve more great things together before the end of the season”, said the first Frenchman to win the race.
Photo credit: ©Robbe Martens
