Cocorico, the Frenchman Axel Laurance won this Friday in Viladecans in the 5th stage of the Tour of Catalonia, still dominated by the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar.
Well placed twice in group finishes on the Catalan roads, the 22-year-old rider won in the sprint ahead of the previous day’s winner Marijn van den Berg and his compatriot Bryan Coquard, still too short despite a good effort.
This is his first victory on the professional circuit, after having perfectly assumed his role as teammate on Milan-San Remo to take Mathieu van der Poel and especially Jasper Philipsen, winner of the legendary Primavera.
“It’s really incredible,” reacted Axel Laurance to Eurosport. This is my first year on a World Tour team so to be able to win a stage in a World Tour level race like this is very, very good…”
“I was in very good shape when I arrived and I still am. I was really targeting the first stage and this one,” he added after finishing fifth twice on Monday and Thursday in mass sprints.
Axel Laurance 🇫🇷 wins the 5th stage of the Tour of Catalonia! The Frenchman (Alpecin-Deceuninck) wins by a hair and signs, at the age of 22, his first victory in a World Tour race 💪#LesRP pic.twitter.com/O6pUJAJ9Z0
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) March 22, 2024
In legs, the double winner of the Tour de France Tadej Pogacar, big favorite for the event, keeps the lead in the general classification after his two consecutive victories in the mountains on Tuesday and Wednesday, with two minutes and 27 seconds over the Spaniard Mikel Landa and two minutes and 55 seconds on the Russian Aleksander Vlasov.
French hope from Groupama-FDJ Lenny Martinez remains 4th at 3 minutes and 21 seconds and retains the best young rider’s jersey, before a final mountain stage on Saturday where Pogacar could be tempted to increase his lead and seal his probable victory.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow’s stage, there is a big question mark, a lot of climbs in a short time and it will be aggressive from the start” warned the leader of the UAE team.
Hungry, the Slovenian “cannibal” chose the Tour of Catalonia to prepare for the Tour of Italy (May 4-26), his main objective at the start of the year. He aims to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro and the Tour de France (June 29-July 21) in the same year.
