Visma | Lease crushes Magnier and Kubis, but sees Double take the double in Slovakia

After no fewer than four (!) stage wins in the first four days, Paul Magnier was logically the overall leader on Sunday, the man of the moment and the rider to beat on the day. The young Frenchman from Soudal-Quick Step started the final stage with a 19-second lead over his closest rival (and four-time runner-up) Lukas Kubis of Unibet Tietema Rockets. The gap to the rest was already 38 seconds or more.

So the big question was: would Magnier be able to defend his lead in what could be described as a mountain stage? “It was certainly not the plan to go for the overall classification, but I think I now have a 43-second lead over the other guys. So I'll give it a try,” said Magnier after his fourth stage victory.

Three ascents preceded the final climb of the day to Vršatec, a tough 3.6-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 8.1 percent. The ideal place for classification teams to really turn up the pressure. Visma | Lease a Bike, which had seized every opportunity to make its mark throughout the week, did just that for leaders Gloag and Cian Uijtdebroeks.

After a leading group of fifteen quickly pulled away, the Dutch team set the pace. Bart Lemmen was at the front, but it soon became clear that this group didn't stand a chance. Already at the start of the last 70 kilometers, and after two climbs to Vršatec, the early breakaway riders were caught. Magnier was still there, despite having changed bikes.

There was one more climb of just over three kilometers to make it very difficult for Magnier, but to really break away, it seemed like a bad plan, with more than 40 kilometers to go to the foot of the final climb after the summit. Nevertheless, Uijtdebroeks tried an attack, and the Belgian got precisely the kind of person you want with you at a moment like that in Paul Double (Jayco AlUla).

It proved to be the final blow for Magnier, who saw his attempt to keep up fail. This meant that, in addition to the battle for the stage win, the battle for the overall victory was also wide open. Visma | Lease a Bike had to get rid of Kubis, but the Slovakian was at least able to keep up with the Visma pressure towards the foot of the final climb in front of his home crowd. In addition to Visma, Jayco AlUla also had many riders here.

5.5 kilometers at an average gradient of 6.5 percent, that's where it had to happen. And it soon became clear that Kubis didn't have the legs to handle such an effort. Menno Huising initiated the action on behalf of Visma, but when Double made his move, only Lemmen was able to follow. Gloag attempted to bridge the gap, but the Brit was unable to close it immediately.

Double accelerated, knowing that he was explosive in a sprint and that Lemmen had already been in the early breakaway. Both men were on the same time, so the winner of the stage would also take the overall victory. However, it didn't come to that because Double kept pushing and destroyed Lemmen in the final kilometer. This left Visma | Lease a Bike empty-handed, and Double took the double victory.