Three days after claiming the victory in the individual time trial, Bob Jungels (Quick Step Floors) produced another dominant show of strength, surging to his fifth national road race title, one that ensured the fourth double at the National Championships for the 25-year-old Luxembourger, who next weekend will be at the start of the 105th Tour de France.
The Wirtgen brothers, Tom and Luc went on the attack early and managed to leave the peloton two minutes in arrears, before Jungels decided to take the matter into his own hands and chase down the leaders, who he caught with incredible ease.
After catching the pair, Jungels accelerated one more time, dropping Luc Wirtgen. Then, together with Tom, nudged their advantage to four minutes, at which point he decided to drop his breakaway companion and go solo, with more than 50 kilometres left.
The circuit around Redange was peppered with eight short hills, but these couldn’t stop Jungels from stamping his authority on the race and increasing the advantage over the chasers, who soon realised they would fight for the minor podium places, which were seized by Alex Kirsch (WB Aqua Protect) and Tom Thill (Team Differdange). Jungels arrived solo at the finish, having plenty of time to celebrate, as he was nearly fourteen minutes ahead of Kirsch and Thill.
“I am happy that I get to show this great jersey for 12 more months on some of the biggest races in the world, starting with the Tour de France, next week, for which I am extremely motivated,” said Jungels.
“I felt very strong today, that’s why I didn’t get worried when Tom and Luc opened a two-minute gap, and remained calm, just following my plan, which culminated with this nice solo win. Every victory is important and brings you a certain degree of satisfaction, and today isn’t any different.”
