André Greipel won the final stage in this year’s Tour of Luxembourg, with a solo win in the capital city.
Meanwhile, the overall victory went to Matti Breschel of Tinkoff-Saxo, after finishing second in today’s stage ahead of MTN-Qhubeka’s Daniel Teklehaimanot.
The last stage took riders from Mersch to the capital city of Luxembourg – covering more than 168 kilometers – which concluded with a local finishing circuit featuring the challenging climb of the Pabeierbierg.
Michael Mørkøv was the first rider to claim the sprint points during today’s stage, ahead of former race leader Jempy Drucker (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and fellow teammate Marko Kump.
Race Highlights
Andy Schleck attacked during the waning moments of today’s stage. However, he was quickly joined by his teammate Danny van Poppel , Greg Henderson, André Greipel, Guillaume Levarlet, Edwin Avila, Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Laurens de Vreese and Sergey Firsanov.
From there, the group built up a maximum lead of 5 minutes.
However, when the breakaway arrived in the capital city, Greg Henderson initiated an attack of his own.
"I attacked the break early because I felt everyone was getting tired," said Henderson. "I knew André would be able to sit on for some 30 kilometers in the group. He waited and then attacked the break. He reached me and I went full gas for one more lap with him sitting on my wheel."
In turn Greipel followed, while his Lotto-Belisol team managed to hold back the ensuing peloton – thus creating a further gap for the breakaway duo.
"I opened some more time on the chasers and then sent Andre on his way. It was the longest lead-out I ever did in my career," Henderson said "And I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone."
Greipel ultimately took the stage in a solo finish, which was unusual for the German powerhouse, who typically vanquishes his rivals in the closing 100 meters or less.
"We did everything well tactically," Greipel said. "I went at the right moment. Even though I had cramps at the end, the legs were great today and I kind of surprised myself today as well."
Tinkoff-Saxo celebrated the overall victory and two stage wins by Breschel.
"I knew we had a good opportunity of making a pretty decent result here but the boys really performed beyond my expectations," sports director Fabrizio Guidi said.
"Matti finished second on the line, and we can now finally celebrate for a number of reasons. Matti’s back in superb form, the team supported him perfectly, Michael (Mørkøv) finished third overall and the results say it all."
Top 20 Finishers
1 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol 4:04:54 2 Matti Breschel (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:14 3 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka 4 Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 5 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Team Stölting 6 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 7 Michael Morkov (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 8 Frank Schleck (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 9 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Rusvelo 10 Laurent Evrard (Bel) Wallonie – Bruxelles 11 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 12 Maxime Anciaux (Bel) Wallonie – Bruxelles 13 Romain Hardy (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 14 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia 15 Joel Zangerle (Lux) Leopard Development Team 16 César Bihel (Fra) Team Differdange – Losch 17 Diego Milan Jimenez (Dom) Team Differdange – Losch 18 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:00:28 19 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) MTN – Qhubeka 20 Vegard Breen (Nor) Lotto Belisol
Final general classification
1 Matti Breschel (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 17:59:04 2 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:00:19 3 Michael Morkov (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:20 4 Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:21 5 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Rusvelo 0:00:26 6 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Team Stölting 0:00:35 7 Romain Hardy (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:43 8 Laurent Evrard (Bel) Wallonie – Bruxelles 0:00:48 9 Frank Schleck (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:56 10 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:01:01 11 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka 12 Joel Zangerle (Lux) Leopard Development Team 0:01:04 13 Diego Milan Jimenez (DmR) Team Differdange – Losch 0:01:06 14 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia 15 Vegard Breen (Nor) Lotto Belisol 0:01:24 16 Ignatas Konovalovas (Lit) MTN – Qhubeka 0:01:30 17 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia 0:01:36 18 Christian Mager (Ger) Team Stölting 0:01:39 19 Fabio Taborre (Ita) Neri Sottoli 0:01:44 20 César Bihel (Fra) Team Differdange – Losch 0:01:54
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