Canadian Michael Woods finished 2nd in the classic Mercan’Tour, in France, at the Alpes-Maritimes, behind his Israel-Premier Tech teammate Jakob Fuglsang, finishing a 167.9 km long day. event. .
Dane, former winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Lombardy and the Critérium du Dauphiné, won alone after climbing the Valberg ski resort.
He was 31 seconds ahead of Woods and Frenchman David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).
Fuglsang attacked 6 km from Col de Valberg on the last climb.
Woods was able to get back to Gaudu in the final kilometers, and beat him in the sprint, by 3 seconds.
I never thought we would be this strong, but our tactics were right. It was very good for us, for the preparation of the TourWoods explained on the special Eurosport channel after the race.
We felt good with Jakob and we worked well. We need points, to see the team perform wellHe added.
The two riders of the Israel-Premier Tech team made a difference in the last climb, which in turn attacked David Gaudu.
Previously, about fifteen runners passed the main difficulty of the race together, the Col de la Couillole, which was classified as hors-category. Among them is former Tour de France winner Chris Froome, also a member of the Israel-Premier Tech team.
It’s great to see a team like this after a pretty complicated start to the season. I think we are on the right pathsaid the Briton.
For Jakob Fuglsang, this is his first success since the Tour of Lombardy in 2020.
From the same Israel-Premier Tech team, Quebecer Hugo Houle finished 35th (+15: 01), his teammate and compatriot James Piccoli not far behind.
Antoine Duchesne (Groupama-FDJ) took 46th place in +19: 08.
Source: Radio-Canada
