Sunday, August 20, 2023 at 4:33 PM
The Tour de l’Avenir started with Anders Voldager winning a stage. The Dane was fastest in the early breakaway, which narrowly held off the onrushing peloton. Giacomo Villa was second, while Pierre Thierry was third.
This year the Tour of the Future kicked off in Brittany. The first stage moved from Carnac to La Caselle, a distance of 140 kilometres. The route included an intermediate sprint, one Category III climb and one Category IV climb. Once in La Gacilly, the riders took a local ride. There was still a short climb into the deep final, where something would undoubtedly happen.
Six riders got on the hare early on the stage and built up a lead of over four minutes. They are Giacomo Villa (Italy), Pierre Thierry (France), Anders Voldager (Denmark), Michael Pomorski (Poland), Dean Harvey (Ireland) and Luke Bettendorf (Luxembourg). In the peloton, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States arranged the pursuit. Germany later took the lead.
The Staune-Mittet problem
However, the gap narrowed only slightly. The top five runners – Harvey was released thirty kilometers from the finish – held on strong. Max Walker (Great Britain) and Luke Lamberti (USA) counterattacked, but were unable to close the gap. They fell back into the peloton, which Johannes Stone-Metite was not in. The Norwegian favorite had crashed early in the stage and left the race.
The remainder of the peloton was still 40 seconds behind at the start of the last eight kilometer lap. However, the peloton came very close. In the final kilometres, the chasers could see the top five runners, but the escapees kept holding their ground. They will rush for victory. Voldager was the fastest in that sprint. Villa finished second, and Terry third.
