Antonio Tiberi wins Skoda Tour de Luxembourg

After a strong ride in the individual time trial on the penultimate stage, Antonio Tiberi went on the attack on the final stage and gained enough time to win the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg. One day earlier, Matevz Govekar had shown his class, sprinting to the win from a trio at the UCI Gravel World Series race held in Girona.

The Tour de Luxembourg is becoming increasingly popular with riders who want to check their form heading into the World championships and the Lombardia one-day classic. This year’s 84th edition featured four hilly stages in the Ardennes and an individual time trial. Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS came into this race with Antonio Tiberi as its protected rider on GC and Damiano Caruso as an experienced road captain. Fred Wright was free to try his hand in possible sprint finishes, with Lukas Wisniowski, Robert Stannard and Vlad van Mechelen as support riders. The race started well as Fred Wright sprinted to 5th at the end of stage 2, and Antonio Tiberi rode to 6th place in the opening stage and a 10th place in stage 3. As for the overall standings, the individual time trial over a distance of 15.5km was likely to be decisive. Halfway into the course, a climb was waiting for the riders, adding to the difficulty of pacing one’s effort properly.

Young Antonio TIberi showed why he only missed out on a top10 result in one individual time trial this season. At the intermediate point, he only posted the 7th fastest time, but from there, Tiberi really found his rhythm and posted the fastest time on the second part of the course, moving into 2nd and only missing out on the stage win by 7 seconds. Thanks to this performance he also moved up to 5th on GC, only 10 seconds behind the overall leader. Before the conclusive stage, the race was still wide open, and the last day offered plenty of opportunities for attacks. After a couple of attacks had been brought back, Antonio Tiberi joined a breakaway on the final lap and this group extended its lead to 40 seconds. Tiberi did a lot of pacing work in the breakaway, and while he did not contend for the stage win, he finished the stage in 4th and gained enough time to win the overall standings of the race. 

Last year Matej Mohoric rode to the win at the 2nd UCI Gravel World Championships - and he did so on MERIDA’s new Silex gravel platform that was only to be released a few days later. Wearing the rainbow jersey, Mohoric wanted to test his form at the UCI Gravel World Series race held in Girona, which was also the last chance for riders to qualify for the World Championships. But two days before the race Mohoric crashed on a recon ride and, therefore, could not take the start. But Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS had a plan B as Matevz Govekar had accompanied his compatriot on this trip to Girona. Just like Mohoric, Govekar took the time for a recon ride on the demanding course through the Les Gavarres Massif that packed more than 1800 meters of climbing into a distance of about 108 kilometres.

This recon ride was well worth it as Matevz Govekar managed to join an attack of two other riders, keep up with them on the climbs and then use his speed and power to win the three-up sprint. “This success was unexpected. We were a bit unfortunate with Matej crashing, but I knew I was in good shape, and we came here with the goal to win," Matevz Govekar said after the race. "I was really focused on delivering a strong performance. It was a tough race right from the start, but having done a recon, I was able to take advantage in the technical sections. I raced very aggressively, helping me to survive the hard climbs. In the end, I felt confident in my sprint, really enjoyed today's race, and, of course, winning was the icing on the cake!”  

RESULTS:
84TH SKODA TOUR DE LUXEMBOURG, FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS:
1. Antonio Tiberi, ITA/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, in 16:47.34 hours
2. Mathieu van der Poel, NED, + 0.15
3. David Gaudu, FRA, + 0.16

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency, David Acedo