Viktor Soenens climbs to tenth overall going into the final day.

Steff Cras rode a great race on the penultimate stage of Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, as part of a breakaway that forced the peloton to chase hard in order to bring them back and fight for victory.

The experienced Belgian, who is racing this week for the first time in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey, was one of the front group’s main engines. Once the move went clear on the well-known Coll de Rates, Cras took some solid pulls there and helped the break build up a buffer of more than three minutes. However, once the peloton changed the tempo, that lead came down and hovered around the one-minute mark for the remainder of the stage.

Sensing the danger, Cras attacked on Alto de la Fustera and forced a selection, only one other rider being capable of responding to this acceleration. As they exited Calpe – where our team holds its winter training camps – the duo continued to hold a 30-second advantage on the chasers, but it was all over on Puig de la Llorença, the last big difficulty of the stage. Once he was caught by the bunch, Cras did his best to remain there and help his much younger teammate Viktor Soenens.

Once the bunch exploded, Soenens rode to the beat of his own drum and booked a place in the third chasing group. The 20-year-old punched above his weight in Saturday’s tough finale and finished in tenth position, after a powerful surge on the uphill drag to the line in Teulada Moraira. Thanks to this strong ride, our feeder’s squad Belgian rider jumped four places in the general classification ahead of the race’s last stage.

 

Photo credit: ©Szymon Gruchalski / Getty Images