Deceuninck - Quick-Step put on a display of dominance at the Hammer Sprint in Limburg as they blasted around the technical circuit to maximise their lead heading into the Hammer Chase on Sunday.
Clever riding by the duo of Fabio Jakobsen and Yves Lampaert saw the Belgian outfit amass a total of 1307 points, with Lampaert infiltrating the early breakaways while Jakobsen used his sprint to perfection to pick up points on the circuit around Sittard.
BORA-hanshrohe finished second on the day with 706 points, while Team Jumbo Visma were third with 541 points.
Deceuninck - Quick-Step set the tone early with Jakobsen winning the first sprint on Lap 1 as riders battled to get in the early moves.
The strongmen were in their element as they faced the wind and rain over the eight laps of the 12.4 km circuit with the quintet of Maciej Bodnar (BORA-hansgrohe), Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Cameron Mayer (Mitchelton-Scott), Owain Doull (INEOS) and Taco Van Der Hoorn (Jumbo-Visma) dominating the early laps.
Strong teamwork from Team Sunweb dragged the group back together but also brought Jakobsen back into contention to launch in the closing kilometres and set up the win.
On Sunday, Hammer Limburg concludes with the Hammer Chase. After dominating the first two days, Deceuninck - Quick-Step start out first in the Finalist Group, 30 seconds ahead of BORA-hansgrohe and 58 seconds ahead of Team Jumbo-Visma in third place.
Fabio Jakobsen: “I managed to get in the front group with Lampaert and immediately felt that I had good legs. The team were up front to support me during the race which makes it easier to sprint also. The last sprint win was nice for me but the celebration at the end was for the whole team.”
Yves Lampaert: “Once again, it was full gas from the start and my watts numbers were really high. I pushed around 350 watts average for an hour and twenty minutes out there. For a flat race, that’s a lot. Heading into tomorrow’s Hammer Chase, we only have a 30 seconds gap so it won’t be easy to defend the lead but we are ready to fight.”
Coming up next at Hammer Limburg:
Sunday, June 9, 15:00 – 17:00 CEST:
The big finale comes with the Hammer Chase, a team time trial pursuit taking place over four laps on the same 12.4 km circuit used for the Hammer Sprint. This is the moment of truth. The first team in the Finalist Group to cross the finishing line will win Hammer Limburg.
How to watch:
The Hammer Series is free to watch at the following sites:
Hammer Series website: https://www.hammerseries.com/watch-live
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If you’re traditional and want to watch on TV, you’ll find all the channels showing the Hammer Series on this page.
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