Vuelta a Andalucia. Alexey Lutsenko takes second in head-to-head sprint in Stage 4
The recent winner of the Clásica Jaén Alexey Lutsenko was close to his second success, this time in Stage 4 of the Vuelta a Andalucia. Together with Wout Poels Lutsenko arrived to the finish in Baza but in a sprint head-to-head the Kazakh rider couldn’t overpass Poels, finishing second.
“In the end I just missed some energy in the legs. It was a very intense stage and we all had to work a lot to keep the gap to the peloton. Also, after my win at the Clásica Jaén all these days I did not feel that good and, definitely, I missed some freshness at the finish. However, it was a good try to bring the team another victory”, – said Alexey Lutsenko.
Stage 4 of 167.4 km has exploded with many attacks already at the first climb of the day. Finally, a group of 15 riders, including Alexey Lutsenko, Miguel Angel Lopez and Harold Tejada went away clear, opening a gap to the race leader Alessandro Covi.
“There were many attacks on the first climb and in a moment I decided to follow a group of riders and Harold Tejada also was up there, while in a few seconds Miguel Angel Lopez joined us as well. I came in front to pull the group and to open a gap to the peloton and it worked well. Later, we worked really hard all together in our group to keep the advantage. It was a tough race, but together with Harold and Miguel Angel we stayed together in the group and step by step our advantage was growing up. With some 15 kilometers to go I saw a few riders attacking from our group. In a moment when we caught them back I decided to attack and only Poels was able to follow me. We opened a small gap, so I thought it could be a chance to fight for a stage win. But, at the end of the day I finished second”, – continued Lutsenko.
After today’s stage Wout Poels became the new race leader, while Miguel Angel Lopez still keeps his second position, 10 seconds behind Poels.
“Tomorrow we have the final stage with an uphill finish. So, tomorrow me and all our team will ride 100% for Miguel Angel to help him to win the General Classification. It won’t be easy as there are many strong climbers here in the peloton, but we are motivated to do our best for our team leader”, – concluded Alexey Lutsenko.
Astana Qazaqstan Team still leads the team classification of the race.
Photo credit: @Gettysport