Sonny Colbrelli has taken charge of the Benelux Tour, rounding off an impressive Ardennes offensive after a 25km solo effort. Colbrelli also took over the leader’s jersey, going into Sunday’s final stage with a 51-second lead over Matej Mohoric.
The sixth stage of the 2021 Benelux Tour promised fireworks with over 3,000 altitude metres and 10 climbs on the way to the finish in Houffalize.
Riders had to wait 107 kilometres for the first climb of the day, but former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and Jonas Rickaert didn’t want to wait that long. After 24km the pair broke away from the peloton, gaining a maximum lead of seven minutes, but they would not feature in the final.
The steep Côte Saint-Roch first caused the peloton to break up, but the race truly came alive on the Côte Bois des Moines. Matej Mohoric attacked and was joined by teammate Sonny Colbrelli and Marc Hirschi. The Slovenian’s impulse caused a true massacre behind him, with just a small peloton left to chase.
Stefan Küng and his Groupama-FDJ team tried to rectify the situation but on the second ascent of the Saint-Roch the group exploded again. Tom Dumoulin tried to chase the leaders with Victor Campenaerts, but at the front Colbrelli also launched a new attack.
With Colbrelli off at the front, Mohoric and Hirsch were then joined by Dumoulin and Campenaerts, with Belgian aces Tim Wellens, Tiesj Benoot and Jasper Stuyven also joining the chasing group. Despite their strength in numbers, Colbrelli continued to build his lead mile after mile and also grabbed nine vital bonification seconds in the Golden Kilometre.
Bahrain-Victorious rider Colbrelli romped home after an impressive 25km solo effort, with Mohoric winning the sprint for second ahead of Stuyven. In the general classification Colbrelli took over the leader’s jersey from Stefan Küng.
Colbrelli was visibly exhausted at the finish after his stunning solo raid, lying down on the road to recover. “It has a hard battle in the Ardennes,” the Italian champion said.
“I rode some hard stages in the Tour and Giro, but this might have been the hardest race in my career. I gave everything with the GC in mind. Now it’s important to recover quickly, because Sunday there’s another hard stage. Hopefully I can defend my jersey and take the overall win.”
