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Tour de France. Alexey Lutsenko moves up to 9th place in the General Classification after two Pyrenees stages

Yesterday and today the peloton of the Tour de France hit the high mountains of the Pyrenees: Stage 17 brought the riders to Peyragudes, while Stage 18 finished atop Hautacam.

Astana Qazaqstan Team leader Alexey Lutsenko spent two great days in the Pyrenees, always staying in front, attacking and fighting for the stage win. Yesterday in Stage 17 Lutsenko finished 5th, while today he was 6th atop Hautacam. As result, after Stage 18 Alexey Lutsenko moved up to 9th place in the General Classification of the race.

“Already yesterday I felt really good, and I was able to spend a strong day in the mountains. It was an intense day, and I was happy I went in the break and tried to do something in matter of the fight for a stage win. Well, in the end I could not win it as Pogacar and Vingegaard were too strong on the final climb, but I was happy with my fifth place atop Peyragudes. Today I was motivated to do something again and I got a good support from my team. A big break went away before the first climb and we had Riabushenko there, but this group could not get a big gap so when we started Col d’Aubisque, I decided to attack and to join that group and I succeed. Alexandr Riabushenko provided me with a good support, while I was trying to save as much energy as possible for the final. I started the final climb a bit behind the group of Van Aert, but I was feeling like I am keeping a good pace. Later when Pogacar and Vingegaard passed me I still had power to stay with Thomas, doing my best to finish as high as possible. Well, I finished 6th today and I am quite happy with it because I did my maximum both yesterday and today. Now I hope to recover in the best possible way as tomorrow is another day and another challenge. Tomorrow’s stage looks easy, but very often this kind of stages brings some surprises, so we have to keep our concentration high”,Alexey Lutsenko.

 

“Well, I think we spent a good third week here at the Tour de France and Alexey Lutsenko showed very good legs in the mountains, he was up there among the leaders, fighting both for the stage and the General Classification. Yeah, the biggest favorites had their own plans for these two stages in the Pyrenees and at the end of the day it was quite impossible to do something to win yesterday and today, but at least we did our best. Maybe we missed some opportunities during the first and second week, but we have to remember that we lost Samuele Battistella before start of the Tour and Gianni Moscon later, while they both could do something good in the breakaways. However, these days in the mountains our team showed itself really good, our captain was in front and also we saw Alexandr Riabushenko and Joe Dombrowski trying to support him, so we can be happy with the way we are riding this third week and with the place Alexey is currently holding in the General Classification. A tough time trial is ahead, and we will keep on fighting to protect our 9th place”,Alexandr Vinokurov.

Supported by the General Partner “Samruk-Kazyna” and the Sports Support Foundation “SportQory”.

Photo credit: @Gettysport