The 3nd start in Göcek, a small town in at the Mediterranean coast not to be confused with the much larger Göcek city, further north. From here we travel west towards Marmaris, passing a few climbs, mainly at the beginning and the end of the route.
The climbs are not too hard and we finish downhill, and as such the stage seems not the be too decisive, also shown by the fact that the media favorites is a mix of sprinters and punchers.

According to ancient Greek historian Herodotus there have been a castle in Marmaris since 3000 BC, if the is true remains to be proven, but it is certain that at least 6th century BC Marmaris was an important port city.

21°C and sunny, no wind at the start line

Top 5 media favorites:
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) Alexander Kristoff (UAE) Nathan Haas (Katsuha) John Degenkolb (Trek) Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal)

Nathan Earle (Israël) first to accelerate today, Ildar Arslanov (Gazprom) in his slipstream. This will develop into a 5 rider morning breakaway with Edwin Avila (Israël), Nathan Van Hooydonck (CCC) and Etienne Van Empel (Neri Sottoli).

Later also Matthias Brändle opens a gap as the third Israël rider attempting to join the break, but he would never get contact.

Van Hooydonck took the routes only KoM in front of Earle and Avila

The breakaway maxed their lead at the uncategorized hill between the KoM and the Point Sprint to 4’18�, at this point Etienne Van Empel was already in trouble sitting 42� behind the stage leaders.

Passing the Point Sprint Van Empel was reeled in and also first Arslanov and later Earle was dropped. Nathan Van Hooydonck wins the sprint in front of Edwin Avila

The breakaway was caught with 35 km left, at this point almost 150 riders left in the pack.

Not much more happens before we get to the last hill with a bit more than 10 km left.
The pack explodes and we have an attack over the top, Simon Clarke (Education First) and a few seconds behind him Jakob Fuglsang, the pursuit 21 riders

Simon Clarke, Jakob Fuglsang and also Valerio Conti making a late counter attack was reeled in and it comes to a reduced sprint won by Pascal Ackermann (BORA),
Mark Padun (Bahrain) and Wout Poels (Sky) fill the podium.

Astana’s best was Jakob Fuglsang 13th, 125 riders get the same time.

As we feared this route was to easy to become selective, but we get another shot left, hope still high.

Result

1	Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe	3h18'34
2	Mark Padun	Bahrain - Merida	s.t.
3	Wout Poels	Team Sky	s.t.
4	Nathan Haas	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
5	Edward Dunbar	Team Sky	s.t.
6	Rudy Molard	Groupama - FDJ	s.t.
7	Diego Rosa	Team Sky	s.t.
8	Jens Debusschere	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
9	Valerio Conti	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
10	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	s.t.

GC

1	Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe	10h25'16
2	Dylan Groenewegen	Team Jumbo-Visma	+ 9
3	Danny Van Poppel	Team Jumbo-Visma	+ 10
4	Mark Padun	Bahrain - Merida	+ 14
5	Arnaud Démare	Groupama - FDJ	+ 14
6	Wout Poels	Team Sky	+ 16
7	Fabio Jakobsen	Deceuninck-Quick Step	+ 16
8	Christophe Laporte	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 17
9	Fumiyuki Beppu	Trek - Segafredo	+ 17
10	Nathan Van Hooydonck	CCC Team	+ 17

Points

1	Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe	57
2	Caleb Ewan	Lotto Soudal	43
3	Dylan Groenewegen	Team Jumbo-Visma	35

KoM

1	Ben Perry	Israël - Cycling Academy	4
2	Nathan Van Hooydonck	CCC Team	3
3	Massimo Rosa	Neri Sottoli - Selle Italia - KTM	3

Team: Direct Energie

Young: Pascal Ackermann (BORA)

The 4th stage continues where we finished yesterday, from Marmaris a hard start with some climbs in the mountains north is the city, rounded off with the Sakar Pass (cat.1) with at altitude gain of 600 meters over 9 km. After this first 37 km the route becomes a lot easier until the final climb up to the summit at the old house of the Virgin Mary close to the town Selçuk

Ephesus was an important ancient Greek city, three kilometers southwest of present-day Selçuk, with a long tradition of religious pilgrimage long before Christianity, so it is not very surprising that Ephesus also claimed to be a Christian “site of pilgrim�, the first mention of St. Mary to have lived in Ephesus dates to 431 AD, if it is true or not is a matter of believe.

21°C and sunny, no wind at the start line

Top 5 media favorites:
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) Diego Rosa (Sky) Edward Dunbar (Sky) Wout Poels (Sky) Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal)

Hard to see what makes Dunbar a top favorite here, with Simon Clarke Nathan Haas Mikel Nieve and others better suited for the profile

After 8 km passing the first hill united, Jérôme Cousin (Direct Energie) opens the stage in front of Bert-Jan Lindeman (Jumbo -Visma)

The pace is quite high but never the less another group get some distance to the pack, Casper Pedersen (Sunweb) Michael Schär (CCC) Ildar Arslanov (Gazprom) Filippo Zaccanti (Nippo-Vini) and Jaco Venter (Dimension Data), the two groups unite after another 11 km.

The breakaway reaches the beginning of the Sakar Pass with 1’45�.

Bert-Jan Lindeman split the breakaway with an acceleration from 1.8 km, only Michael Schär able to hang in, Schär counters from 700 meters to take the KoM at Sakar Pass and thereby the KoM lead.

The breakaway passes the KoM with 4’04�

A huge crash takes down 27 riders and block another 82, most important rider on the tarmac is Valerio Conti, but more important riders was blocked, notably Sky leaders Wout Poels and Diego Rosa.

The group with Sky leaders gets back about mid-stage and seemingly their leaders are ok as Them Sky takes the lead of the pack, almost as soon as the pack reunite.
Salvatore Puccio, Filippo Ganna and Christian Knees leading the pursuit, with 72 km left and the gap reduced to 2’44�

The break was over with some 25 km left. Luis León Sánchez attacks on the Hill climb just prior to the summit finish, he takes the KoM but was not allowed to stay ahead.

On the downhill another huge crash split the pack, leaving just 39 riders in the first group, all the top favorites are well placed, most important riders left behind is Education First lieutenant Joe Dombrowski, Astana lost Jan Hirt

We start the last short but very steep climb, Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton) accelerates further splitting the group, with 2.5 km to the top 12 riders lead the race.

It comes down to a shootout between Jakob Fuglsang, Simon Geschke and Mikel Nieve approaching the line together.

Geschke has that bit extra today, holding the others behind him over the last few hundred meters, taking the stage win and race lead. Jakob Fuglsang 2nd and Mikel Nieve takes the last spot at the podium.

2nd is usually a great result, but in this case Fuglsang may well be disappointed, this was his race to lose. With two flat stages left unlikely to improve the final standings.

Result

1	Simon Geschke	CCC Team	5h27'17
2	Jakob Fuglsang	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
3	Mikel Nieve	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
4	Nathan Haas	Team Katusha- Alpecin	+ 21
5	Mark Padun	Bahrain - Merida	s.t.
6	Simon Clarke	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
7	Diego Rosa	Team Sky	+ 55
8	Bjorg Lambrecht	Lotto Soudal	+ 1'03
9	Wout Poels	Team Sky	s.t.
10	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	+ 1'28

GC

1	Simon Geschke	CCC Team	15h52'43
2	Jakob Fuglsang	Astana Pro Team	+ 4
3	Mikel Nieve	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 6
4	Mark Padun	Bahrain - Merida	+ 25
5	Nathan Haas	Team Katusha- Alpecin	+ 31
6	Simon Clarke	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
7	Diego Rosa	Team Sky	+ 1'05
8	Wout Poels	Team Sky	+ 1'09
9	Bjorg Lambrecht	Lotto Soudal	+ 1'13
10	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	+ 1'38

Points

1	Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe	63
2	Nathan Haas	Team Katusha- Alpecin	47
3	Caleb Ewan	Lotto Soudal	43

KoM

1	Michael Schär	CCC Team	12
2	Bert-Jan Lindeman	Team Jumbo-Visma	8
3	Simon Geschke	CCC Team	6

Team: CCC Team

Young: Mark Padun (Bahrain – Merida)

The stage continues where we finished yesterday, from Selçuk we travel north for a point sprint in Torbalı and later a climb between the villages of Dağkızılca and Nazarköy. beside this only KoM climb the route is very flat, expected to finish with a mass sprint in Manisa.

Manisa in itself a large city and province capital with an urban population of about one million, is located just 40 km from important port city Izmir, making it possible to commute between the two cities. Traditionally it was believed that the city was founded by an ancient Greek tribe Magnetes. Modern scientists believe the first urban settlement to date back to 650-550 BC, it was under Roman rule the city became of importance after they concurred it in 190 BC.

21°C and sunny with little wind.

Top 5 media favorites:
Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo) Alexander Kristoff (UAE) Caleb Ewan (Lotto) Pascal Ackermann (BORA) Sam Bennett (BORA)

Etienne Van Empel (Neri Sottoli) opens the race, in front of Ignatas Konovalovas (Groupama) and Jérôme Cousin (Direct Energie), this develop into a group of 9 riders, but the gap is still very small after the first 10 km, with a fast peloton in pursuit.

Only two rider make it to the bonus sprint the other 7 was caught, the sprint was won by Jérôme Cousin in front of Tom Bohli (UAE). From the pack Jakob Fuglsang comes with a surprise attack and grab the last bonus second.

After the sprint Luis León Sánchez (Astana) and Anton Vorobyev (Gazprom) attack and join the duo in front, Sánchez takes the only KoM.

Beside the fact that the breakaway was reeled in, not much more to happens before the expected mass sprint in Manisa.

Sam Bennett and Danny Van Poppel opens early and lead under the kite, but from Nikolas Maes’s wheel it is Pascal Ackermann taking the stage in front of Caleb Ewan and Dylan Groenewegen.

Fun fact that Jakob took a bonus second, but will hardly matter in the end, same with Luis León’s KoM attack

Result

1	Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe	3h13'26
2	Caleb Ewan	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
3	Dylan Groenewegen	Team Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
4	Jakub Mareczko	CCC Team	s.t.
5	Daniel McLay	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
6	Fabio Jakobsen	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
7	Danny Van Poppel	Team Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
8	Rick Zabel	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
9	Mark Cavendish	Team Dimension Data	s.t.
10	Nikolas Maes	Lotto Soudal	s.t.

GC

1	Simon Geschke	CCC Team	19h06'09
2	Jakob Fuglsang	Astana Pro Team	+ 3
3	Mikel Nieve	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 6
4	Mark Padun	Bahrain - Merida	+ 25
5	Simon Clarke	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	+ 31
6	Nathan Haas	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
7	Diego Rosa	Team Sky	+ 1'05
8	Wout Poels	Team Sky	+ 1'09
9	Bjorg Lambrecht	Lotto Soudal	+ 1'13
10	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	+ 1'38

Points

1	Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe	83
2	Caleb Ewan	Lotto Soudal	62
3	Dylan Groenewegen	Team Jumbo-Visma	53

KoM

1	Michael Schär	CCC Team	12
2	Bert-Jan Lindeman	Team Jumbo-Visma	8
3	Simon Geschke	CCC Team	6

Team: CCC Team

Young: Mark Padun (Bahrain – Merida)

Starting in Bursa we a rider north on the Otoyol-5 Motorway heading directly for Istanbul, passing the Osmangazi Köprüsü bridge over Izmit Bay. The route is very flat almost bound to end in a mass sprint finish, but the final is uphill and could help a puncher taking it from a very late attack.

Being the natural gateway between Europe Africa and the East, the area that is now Istanbul was settled about 8500 thousand years ago at the dawn of agriculture. The first secure mention in writing was Βυζάντιον (Byzantion) founded by Greeks in 667 BC, although according to Roman author Pliny the Elder in was predated by a Thracian settlement called Lygos.

Today Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey with an urban population above 15 million, being the economic, cultural and historic center of the country.

17°C and cloudy just a light breeze.

Top 5 media favorites:
Alexander Kristoff (UAE) Pascal Ackermann (BORA) John Degenkolb (Trek) Nathan Haas (Katusha) Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)

Tom Bohli (UAE) opens the race, after a hard pursuit over the first 8-10 km, it ends up with a breakaway of four with Tom Van Asbroeck (Israël), Taco Van Der Hoorn (Jumbo) and Christian Knees (Sky)

Van Der Hoorn was dropped from the breakaway, but instead Salvatore Puccio attack from the pack joining teammate Knees in the breakaway. Without fight Puccio takes the KoM but Michael Schär is still KoM leader and will win the classification.

The breakaway had about 3 minutes at the KoM and that was all they would get, at the sprint at Osmangazi Köprüsü bridge it is down to 2’30�, with almost 80 km still to go.

The last more than 7 km in Istanbul is very technical on narrow roads, the breakaway is over with some 5 km left.

Despite the difficult finish it comes to a mass sprint, although most top sprinters lost the fight for position. Caleb Ewan (Lotto) wins the final stage in front of Rick Zabel (Katusha) and Daniel Oss (BORA)

The GC was unchanged, Simon Geschke wins Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey in front of Jakob Fuglsang and Mikel Nieve.

Jakob Fuglsang was disconnected from the Astana train in the chaos of the final kilometers, losing any hope of bonus seconds, but off course that was a longshot under any circumstances.

Result

1	Caleb Ewan	Lotto Soudal	3h50'49
2	Rick Zabel	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
3	Daniel Oss	BORA - hansgrohe	s.t.
4	Daniel McLay	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
5	Sam Bennett	BORA - hansgrohe	s.t.
6	Fabio Jakobsen	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
7	Simon Clarke	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
8	Jakub Mareczko	CCC Team	s.t.
9	Luis León Sánchez	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10	Pello Bilbao	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

GC

1	Simon Geschke	CCC Team	22h56'58
2	Jakob Fuglsang	Astana Pro Team	+ 3
3	Mikel Nieve	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 6
4	Mark Padun	Bahrain - Merida	+ 25
5	Simon Clarke	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	+ 31
6	Nathan Haas	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
7	Diego Rosa	Team Sky	+ 1'05
8	Wout Poels	Team Sky	+ 1'09
9	Bjorg Lambrecht	Lotto Soudal	+ 1'13
10	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	+ 1'38

Points

1	Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe	83
2	Caleb Ewan	Lotto Soudal	82
3	Jakub Mareczko	CCC Team	59

KoM

1	Michael Schär	CCC Team	12
2	Bert-Jan Lindeman	Team Jumbo-Visma	8
3	Simon Geschke	CCC Team	6

Team: CCC Team

Young: Mark Padun (Bahrain – Merida)

valverde321 wrote:
Not bad to get 9th and 10th with your team on the flat day.

Injuries (22/4) :
Astana

Name	Weeks
Dario Cataldo	3
Davide Ballerini	3

Other Important riders with serious injuries:

Name	Team	Weeks
Chris Froome	Team Sky	months
Matej Mohoric	Bahrain - Merida	10
Luke Rowe	Team Sky	8
Nikias Arndt	Team Sunweb	7
Michal Kwiatkowski	Team Sky	7
Tadej Poga�ar	UAE Team Emirates	7
Jens Debusschere	Team Katusha- Alpecin	6
Nils Politt	Team Katusha- Alpecin	6
Marco Canola	Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè	5
Tom Jelte Slagter	Team Dimension Data	5
Julian Alaphilippe	Deceuninck-Quick Step	4
Lukasz Wisniowski	CCC Team	4
Giacomo Nizzolo	Team Dimension Data	4
Ben Swift	Team Sky	3
Sonny Colbrelli	Bahrain - Merida	3
Florian Senechal	Deceuninck-Quick Step	2
Tom Dumoulin	Team Sunweb	2
Gianluca Brambilla	Trek - Segafredo	2
Tony Gallopin	Ag2r La Mondiale	1
Oliver Naesen	Ag2r La Mondiale	1
Fernando Gaviria	UAE Team Emirates	days
Nacer Bouhanni	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	days

A quite race at the long and undulated first 2/3, strong climbers Emanuel Buchmann (BORA) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Sky) part of the 7-man strong breakaway. They got too much time reaching the cobbled last 1/3, for the peloton to bring them back. Tao Geoghegan Hart took the race win, in front of Kenny Dehaes (Wallonie) and David Gaudu (Groupama), Emanuel Buchmann did not survive the stones and finished 19th.

Best from the pack was Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal) 7th at 1’13�
Astana’s best Laurens De Vreese 18th.

1	Tao Geoghegan Hart	Team Sky	5h17'28
2	Kenny Dehaes	Cycling Team Wallonie-Bruxelles	+ 9
3	David Gaudu	Groupama - FDJ	s.t.
4	Stijn Steels	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
5	Kirill Pozdnyakov	Tarteletto - Isorex	s.t.
6	Manuel Amaro Antunes	CCC Team	s.t.
7	Jens Keukeleire	Lotto Soudal	+ 1'13
8	Michael Valgren Andersen	Team Dimension Data	s.t.
9	Mathieu Van der Poel	Corendon - Circus	+ 1'25
10	Dimitri Claeys	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 1'34

We are in for a hilly route favoring the punchers.
Laurens De Vreese and Rodrigo Contreras both attempt to join the morning break but fail, it ends in a relative weak group of 5 riders, they get caught with about 6 km left.
It ends in a group sprint won by Daniel Felipe Martínez (Education First), best from Astana was Andrey Zeits 14th.

1	Daniel Felipe Martínez	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	4h42'46
2	Patrick Konrad	BORA - hansgrohe	s.t.
3	Xandro Meurisse	Wanty - Gobert Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Robert Power	Team Sunweb	s.t.
5	Mathieu Van der Poel	Corendon - Circus	s.t.
6	Samuel Dumoulin	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
7	Serge Pauwels	CCC Team	s.t.
8	Peter Kennaugh	BORA - hansgrohe	s.t.
9	Maurits Lammertink	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
10	Pieter Vanspeybrouck	Wanty - Gobert Cycling Team	s.t.

Despite being quite prestigious Dutch one-day cycling classic Amstel Gold Race is rather young with first edition in 1966. Dutch legend Jan Raas won the race 5 times between ‘77 and 82, in those golden years he won a lot of top classics Milaan-San Remo ’77, Ronde van Vlaanderen ’79, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Gent-Wevelgem ’81. More recently Philippe Gilbert have won four times between ‘10 and ’17.

Although being a small town of just 10.000 people Valkenburg has a rich history. A complex of flint mines dated to around 3300 BC was found and also remains of several Roman Buildings (1-3 century) have been found. The first mention of Valkenburg dates to 1041, the Lords of Valkenburg ruled from Valkenburg Castle (approx. 1075).

Top 5 media favorites:
Michael Matthews (Sunweb) Michael Albasini (Mitchelton) Tim Wellens (Lotto) Maximilian Schachmann (BORA) Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton)

The weather is fine, mostly sunny with 16°C and very little wind.

Miguel Eduardo Florez (Androni) opens the race with Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Delko) and Pavel Sivakov (Sky) in his slipstream.

First Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Astana) and Domen Novak (Bahrain) later Ivan Santaromita (Nippo) Mathias Le Turnier (Cofidis) and Steve Morabito (Groupama) would join the breakaway. With 210 km left these eight riders got 6’08� to the pack.

Over the next 145 km we get a series of huge crashes, in the two first Astana’s Rodrigo Contreras was down having a hard race today. Nicola Bagioli (Nippo) abandon after the first crash.

The third crash takes down or block most of the peloton leaving just 46 riders in the pack. Egan Bernal, Michael Woods, Matej Mohoric, Tadej Poga�ar amongst those lying on the tarmac, Mohoric and Poga�ar won’t make it to the finish line today.
Astana lucky this time with all rider in the first group except Contreras who never got back from his last crash.

At some point the pack grows to 77 riders, but as the pace gets harder and many have been fighting hard to get back, it soon shrinks again.

Up front Santaromita, Morabito and Florez have dropped the rest of the breakaway, but the pack is coming closer now at just 1’09�

15 km left, the breakaway was over more than 10 km back and we now have just 28 riders left in the leading group.

Tim Wellens attack splitting the group, 7 riders seems to be able to follow this move, it is Matthews, Albasini, Gilbert, Valverde, I. Izagirre and Cort Nielsen.
Schachmann, Martin and Battaglin not directly in the slipstream but not too far back either.

Later another attack from Wellens with Gilbert at wheel was looking good for a while, but they were reeled in again.

Gilbert first into the last corner with Cort Nielsen directly at wheel, Valverde and Schachmann right behind.

With just a few inches Magnus Cort Nielsen beat Philippe Gilbert and wins Amstel Gold Race, preventing the Belgian from his 5th win in the race.

This is the full list of rider not making the finish line today

Sean Bennett	EF Education First p/b Cannondale
Anthony Roux	Groupama - FDJ
Matej Mohoric	Bahrain - Merida
Tadej Poga�ar	UAE Team Emirates
Nicola Bagioli	Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè

Unbelievable! A fantastic result for us! Huge thanks to both Izagirre brothers, who made it possible for Magnus to take this important win.

Result

1	Magnus Cort Nielsen	Astana Pro Team	6h48'45
2	Philippe Gilbert	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
3	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	s.t.
4	Maximilian Schachmann	BORA - hansgrohe	s.t.
5	Tim Wellens	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
6	Enrico Gasparotto	Team Dimension Data	s.t.
7	Michael Matthews	Team Sunweb	s.t.
8	Matteo Trentin	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
9	Michael Valgren Andersen	Team Dimension Data	s.t.
10	Michael Albasini	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.

Stage 1: Arevalo - Valladolid 194.3 km

A flat first stage, with a slightly hilly last 30 km including a cat.3 climb and downhill finish. Astana’s Manuele Boaro part of a 6 riders breakaway but they were caught before the KoM climb.

Nikita Stalnov attack and takes the KoM, Kristoffer Halvorsen (Sky) wins the stage.
Astana’s best Davide Villella 16th.

1	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Team Sky	4h41'10
2	Reinardt Janse V. Rensburg	Team Dimension Data	s.t.
3	Jens Keukeleire	Lotto Soudal	s.t.

Stage 2: Urueña - Palencia 168.9 km

Another flat rated stage, this time a bit hillier with a late KoM within the last 15 km.
Nikita Stalnov again part of the breakaway and he holds the jersey for the night. It comes to a mass sprint won by Reinardt Janse V. Rensburg (Dimension Data). Astana’s best Manuele Boaro 7th

1	Reinardt Janse V. Rensburg	Team Dimension Data	4h02'00
2	Jean Pierre Drucker	BORA - hansgrohe	s.t.
3	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Team Sky	s.t.

Stage 3: Aguilar de Campoo - Cervera de Pisuerga 187.3 km

A seven riders breakaway form and sadly Astana does not get anyone in the break, never the less Nikita Stalnov will win the overall KoM.

It comes to a reduced uphill sprint, won by Alberto Bettiol (Education First), Astana’s best Omar Fraile 4th.
Fraile ranks 6th in final GC.

1	Alberto Bettiol	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	4h47'47
2	Reinardt Janse V. Rensburg	Team Dimension Data	s.t.
3	Sergio Andres Higuita	Fundación Euskadi	s.t.

Final GC:

1	Reinardt Janse V. Rensburg	Team Dimension Data	13h30'35
2	Alberto Bettiol	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	+ 12
3	Sergio Andres Higuita	Fundación Euskadi	+ 18
4	Jan Polanc	UAE Team Emirates	+ 22
5	Kristijan Durasek	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
6	Omar Fraile	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7	Robert Gesink	Team Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
8	Jens Keukeleire	Lotto Soudal	+ 41
9	Jaime Rosón	Movistar Team	+ 45
10	Vicente García De Mateos	Ludofoods Louletano Aviludo	+ 1'03

For some the last test leading up to season goal Liège–Bastogne–Liège, for other the last chance in a spring classic, if they were not chosen for the upcoming Monument, and off course for many just another hard day in the saddle with little hope of glory or fame.

La Flèche Wallonne was created by newspaper Les Sports, first run in 1936 from Tournai to Liège (236 km), in recent years the race finish in Huy with the 1.3 km long Mur de Huy playing a vital role in the outcome of the race.

Top 5 media favorites:
Tim Wellens (Lotto) Maximilian Schachmann (BORA) Jay McCarthy (BORA) Michael Valgren (Dimension Data) Bauke Mollema (Trek)

The weather is fine, mostly sunny with 17°C and little to no wind.

Kamil Gradek (CCC) opens the stage with a solo attack, later others start to lay some distance to the pack. Gradek spend more than 20 km alone before he was finally caught by a pursuit of six, many other had also attempted and failed due to a constant high pace in the pack over the first 22 km, the gap still under one minute.

Astana’s Yevgeniy Gidich now part of the leading seven riders.

Soon the pack slows down and the gap grow to 5’20 mid-stage, before the pack start the pursuit. A huge crash hits a lot of rider and more are blocked, 95 riders lose time. Astana got Dmitriy Gruzdev in the crash, but he gets back on the bike.

Astana’s Laurens De Vreese was down in a smaller crash, dosen’t look good he is not getting up.

The breakaway was caught with a bit more than 20 km left. Just as we are about to pass under the 10 km banner attack between the top favourites, initiated by Michael Valgren with Esteban Cháves and Maximilian Schachmann at wheel, a little further back Tim Wellens try to close the gap

Valgren and Cháves can’t keep up with the pace set by Schachmann, but Tim Wellens closed the gap and is now glued to Schachmann’s rear wheel, with just 2.5 km to the finish line.

Tim Wellens much stronger than the Greman at Mur de Huy , winning the race with 31� to Maximilian Schachmann and 49� to Michael Albasini.

Astana’s best Alexey Lutsenko came in as 14� 1’59� behind the race winner. Laurens De Vreese was brought to a hospital turns out to be a skull fracture he will not race for a while.

We did not expect a lot, and did not get much either.

Result

1	Tim Wellens	Lotto Soudal	5h13'02
2	Maximilian Schachmann	BORA - hansgrohe	+ 31
3	Michael Albasini	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 49
4	Daniel Martin	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
5	Jay McCarthy	BORA - hansgrohe	+ 1'06
6	Mikel Landa	Movistar Team	s.t.
7	Marc Soler	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Jelle Vanendert	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
9	Simon Yates	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
10	Esteban Cháves	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 1'20