ProTeam Lennert Van Eetvelt wins queen stage and takes GC lead at Tour of Slovakia

Lennert Van Eetvelt animated the finale of stage three of the Tour of Slovakia together with three other riders. The early breakaway was caught in time, before Van Eetvelt attacked on the final climb of the day– 6.2 kilometres at an average gradient of 6.5 percent– together with Henrique Bravo, Maxim Decomble and Jamie Meehan. The four opened up a nice gap, but after the final climb, a flat run-in still awaited them, with a heavily reduced peloton chasing behind. In the end, Van Eetvelt was the only rider to hold on, and only just, to take victory in the queen stage. He also takes over the lead in the general classification from Paul Magnier.

“The plan was to accelerate in the finale and reach the top with as few riders as possible”, explains Lennert Van Eetvelt. “When I saw that Henrique Bravo was still there, I knew I had a strong competitor with me. I also had no idea what the situation was behind us after the climb, because I couldn’t hear anything through my radio. Were riders coming back? I had no idea. Usually, I don’t play that much poker in a finale and I always keep riding, out of respect for the others, but today I really wanted to win. We’re here with such a young team and everyone has worked so hard… I really wanted to reward that with a victory. We played it well. I also really enjoyed the open racing. That makes this race so much fun to ride.”

Liam Slock also finished sixth in Slovakia.

Picture: Tour of Slovakia