Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) survived from the day-long breakaway to score the first professional win of his career on the challenging hilly fourth stage of the Tour of the Alps to Trento.
The 25-year-old German, a racer for Tudor's development team but with the main squad this week, made the break 150km from the finish of the 168km stage. He proved the strongest from the five-man move, eventually going clear with 25km to go to solo home.
Former speedskater Jansch held off a strong group of GC contenders and climbers behind to take a big debut victory. He crossed the line 10 seconds ahead of Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek) and local rider Federico Iacomoni (Team UKYO). Jasch's teammate Florian Stork led home the GC group for fourth, 20 seconds down.
"Actually I can't believe it, to be honest. The emotions are quite a lot right now," Jasch said after his win.
"I came here to help Michael Storer win the GC again. Now I'm sitting here and you're asking me these questions. I can't believe it. It was just an incredible day.
"When I was in the break, I just felt that this is maybe the best day of my life today. I had insane legs and I just kept believing from the beginning on. I did everything to make it to the line and it was just a crazy day."
Lennart Jasch of Tudor Pro Cycling attacks from the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
There was no big movement on GC during the stage, with all the top favourites coming in together in the group behind Jasch. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) continues in the lead of the race with a four-second lead over Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) ahead of Friday's closing queen stage.
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Third-placed Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) moves level on time with his teammate after gaining two bonus seconds late in the stage, while Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) jumps up a spot to fourth place at six seconds down after grabbing four bonus seconds in the same place.
How it unfolded
The breakaway marches along the 167.8km stage from Arco to Trento (Image credit: Getty Images)
Stage 4 of the Tour of the Alps would be the biggest challenge of the race to date, featuring 4,000 metres of climbing packed in the 168km from Arco to Trento, including two first-category climbs – the early ascent of the Passo Bordala (14.8km at 6.9%) and the mid-stage Passo Redebus (13km at 6.7%).
The day's breakaway went clear on the way up the Bordala, with Jansch joined in the move by Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Simone Raccani (Team UKYO), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), and Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain Victorious).
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe controlled the front of the peloton behind, while up front it was Quinn who led the way over the top of the climb to take 10 mountain points.
Sean Quinn of EF Education-EasyPost rides on stage 4 (Image credit: Getty Images)
The leading quintet raced out to an advantage of three minutes during the stage, though it seemed unlikely that any of them would last to the finish given the accumulated power in the peloton behind.
They held a three-minute gap over the Redebus, too, with Quinn once again leading the race across the top for another 10 points. The 20 points he won during the stage put him in the mountain classification lead overnight, three points up on former holder Emanuel Zangerle (Vorarlberg).
Further back, the peloton fractured over the climbs, leaving around 50 men in the group heading into the final 50km, with two minutes left to make up to the breakaway.
Jasch and Kepplinger pushed on at the front of the race on the unclassified Brusago climb (4.7km at 6.9%), some 48km from the line, leaving behind Juul-Jensen, Raccani, and Quinn.
Jasch, who was clearly in flying form, soon dropped Kepplinger too, going solo with 47km to go. He was rejoined by Kepplinger, Juul-Jensen, and Raccani as they raced into the final 40km, however.
Four riders in the breakaway (L-R): Rainer Kepplinger of Bahrain-Victorious, Lennart Jasch of Tudor Pro Cycling, Christopher Juul-Jensen of Jayco AlUla and Simone Raccani of Team Ukyo (Image credit: Getty Images)
The new leading quartet kept working together into the closing 30km, even as their lead slimmed to the minute mark. Jasch would soon be off again, attacking with 25km to go on the next unclassified climb of Sant-Agnese (2.7km at 7.7%).
That would be the last his break-mates saw of the German, with Jasch pushing on alone for the line. Behind him, Juan Felipe Rodriguez (EF Education-EasyPost) launched an attack from the peloton, collecting the fading Juul-Jensen on the way back to Kepplinger and Raccani. The quartet chased at 40 seconds down on Jasch, but they didn't make it across even as Rodriguez went solo 10km from the finish.
The Colombian was caught as Vlasov and Bernal launched their brief attacks for the bonus seconds on the 1.6km, 6.5% hill at Povo, 9km from the finish. Jasch, however, persevered out front, hanging on to a 20-second lead.
Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) rides in the red points jersey (Image credit: Getty Images)
The downhill run towards Trento saw a series of small moves from Bernal, Pellizzari, and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), among others, but nothing went clear, and the stop-start nature of proceedings likely helped Jasch, who powered on alone.
At 6km out, Italian duo Sobrero and Iacomoni went on the offensive, launching off the front in search of Jasch. They ate away at the gap, but their efforts weren't enough to bring back the hero of the day.
In the end, the stage was Jasch's, with the German converting his 25km solo effort into a big debut victory, before he has even signed his first pro contract.
German Lennart Jasch of Tudor Pro Cycling celebrates his first pro victory on the podium after stage 4 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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