“I am very happy. Especially for the team, after a week of perfect teamwork. Again today: everyone took it all out there to take that victory. We controlled the last stage perfectly. It’s twice as nice when after all the work you can finish it off.”
Today, 160 kilometers with local laps in Forlì – the start and finish location of the final stage – formed the hard conclusion of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali. With two climbs in each local lap, it was tailor-made for Jenno Berckmoes, who, after several podium finishes earlier this week, was eager for a win. “We were very attentively in the beginning. Seven riders broke away, which was good for us: none of the GC contenders were in that breakaway. This allowed us, along with Visma, to control the race. Alec (Segaert) and Milan (Donie) did a lot of work.”
“In the final there were some attacks, as we expected. We kept our cool, and Harm (Vanhoucke) and Jarno (Widar) reacted perfectly. In the end, only 25 riders left. Sylvain (Moniquet) was there to control, Logan (Currie) stayed with me for the leadout.”
Lotto Dstny’s teamwork has been generously rewarded: besides today’s victory, Berckmoes also takes home the points jersey. Additionally, Lotto Dstny was crowned the best team in Italy, and both fifth and sixth places in the overall classification are occupied by riders from the team, with Berckmoes and Moniquet, respectively. “I have been able to show my abilities here,” concludes a happy Berckmoes. “Doing so with so much support from my teammates and the staff feels exceptionally good. I truly feel that I have been able to take a significant step forward.”
| 01 | BERCKMOES Jenno Lotto Dstny | 04:20:25 | |
| 02 | NERURKAR Lukas EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 | |
| 03 | DE PRETTO Davide Team Jayco-AlUla | + 00 |
