The Wolfpack had two riders in the top ten at our first race of the weekend.
Casper Pedersen notched up his first podium of the season, and the team’s 15th, at the 51st edition of the NXT Classic. The Dane, who last month had an impressive outing at Paris-Nice, where he spent five days in the polka dot jersey, was one of the strongest riders Saturday afternoon, and his third place confirmed this.
The race had an elevation gain of 2400 meters, but the many short hills sprinkled over the 196.3km course made it impossible to be controlled by the few teams targeting a bunch sprint at the end of the day. Instead, attacks came left and right from the very first kilometer, when four men jumped and formed a breakaway, whose chances of making it were doomed from the beginning. Their adventure at the front of the race came to an end with more than 80 kilometers to go, when they were caught by a strong group featuring Casper.
It was a dangerous move for the peloton, who had to chase hard in order to make the catch and keep things together, although that effort proved to be for nothing in the end, as the bunch splintered again following a series of attacks that came again on the climbs. This time around, Soudal Quick-Step was represented by three riders at the front: Pedersen, Stan Van Tricht and Pascal Eenkhoorn, a two-time podium finisher at this race.
When two men broke clear and built a gap on the others, the Wolfpack remained prominent and worked hard in order to reduce that margin. A few kilometers from the finish, after a sensational job of Stan, Casper sneaked away and rode himself onto the podium, just a couple of seconds behind the riders who fought for the win. Joining him in the top ten from the chasing group was Pascal, who finished seventh.
The day went really well for us and everybody did their best on this parcours which made for a hectic race.
“It was important to be in a good position and race as a team. We took the initiative and tried to make things hard from 100 kilometers to go. We were in every group and covered all the moves. Two guys were just better in the finale and went away, but we continued to believe in our chances. Stan pulled hard and in the closing kilometers I attacked, got a small gap and could hold it until the line. It’s a nice result and a good day of racing from the whole squad”, said Casper after his sixth top-three finish in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey.
Photo credit: ©Szymon Gruchalski / Getty Images