17 March 2019

Fuglsang, a victory for Scarponi

Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team), whose family name means “the bird’s song”, doubled up for Astana in Recanati, the town of famous poet Giacomo Leopardi, the day after Alexey Lutsenko soloed to victory in Fossombrone, also in the Marche region. After Fuglsang bravely rode away with 24km to go, race leader Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) attacked as well 12km from the finish and eventually dropped GC runner-up Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma). The Englishman leads Tirreno-Adriatico NamedSport by 25 seconds with two days to go.

 

 
STAGE RESULT

 

1 – Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) 180km in 4h39’32”, average speed 38.635kph
2 – Adam Yates (Mitchelton – Scott) at 40″
3 – Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo – Visma) at 56″

 

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

 

 
1 – Adam Yates (Mitchelton – Scott)
2 – Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo – Visma) at 25″
3 – Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) at 35″

 

JERSEYS

 

• Maglia Azzurra (blue), general classification leader, sponsored by Gazprom – Adam Yates (Mitchelton – Scott)
• Maglia Arancione (orange), sprinter classification leader, sponsored by Sportful – Adam Yates (Mitchelton – Scott). Will be worn tomorrow by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team)
• Maglia Verde (green), King of the Mountains classification leader, sponsored by Enel – Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team)
• Maglia Bianca (white), young rider general classification leader, sponsored by Open Fiber – Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb)

 

PRESS CONFERENCE

 

 

The stage winner, Jakob Fuglsang, said: “I said yesterday that I’d win for Michele [Scarponi] if possible. I was told he won Tirreno-Adriatico 10 years ago. This was his favorite race and we were racing on his roads today. We still miss him; he remains in our thoughts. He was such a good guy – this one is for him. It takes luck and courage to win races attacking from far. Winning is very difficult. I still have to do a very good time trial to keep my spot on the podium against Tom Dumoulin but I’ll fight for it.”

 

The Maglia Azzurra, Adam Yates, said: “Me and Roglic worked together but there was not enough distance to catch Fuglsang. When he went, it was still a long way to the finish. It was a similar situation as with Lutsenko yesterday. If I went after him, maybe I would have lost energy. It’s a tactical game. Now I have no more stages to win and it’s a time trial to finish with. At the back of my mind, I would have liked a 45-second lead over Roglic, who is a super time triallist. It’s not a course that suits me. I don’t think 25 seconds is enough but I’ll try my best.”

 

 

STATISTICS

 

 

• Jakob Fuglsang took his first victory at Tirreno-Adriatico NamedSport. It’s the 10th stage win by a Danish rider. The last Dane to win a stage was Rolf Sorensen on stage five to Torricella Sicura in 1998. Six countries have won more than Denmark: Italy (155), Belgium (41), Spain (22), The Netherlands (21), Switzerland (19) and Germany (18).
• Fuglsang’s win at Recanati is Astana’s 19th since the beginning of the year. The Kazakh team leads the WorldTour in victories.
• For the second straight stage, the same three teams make the top three: Astana Pro Team (first and first), Mitchelton-Scott (third and second) and Team Jumbo-Visma (second and third).

 

TOMORROW’S STAGE
Stage 6 – Matelica  – Jesi 195km

Discover The Route of Stage 6

 

CURIOSITIES

 

Jesi
The sporting history of Jesi is linked to fencing, in particular the foil. The city is represented by Olympic champions Stefano Cerioni, Giovanna Trillini, Valentina Vezzali (who, in 2012, became the Italian athlete with the highest number of Olympic gold medals) and Elisa Di Francisca, all pupils of the coach Ezio Triccoli to whom the local sports hall is dedicated.