Tour de Luxembourg<\/a> with a breathtaking solo ride of nearly the entire distance.<\/p>\nThe Dutch star attacked almost immediately after the start in Mersch on the 177 km stage to Luxembourg-Limpertsberg. From roughly the second kilometre, he found himself alone at the front and simply never looked back. Over the next 175 kilometres\u2014and more than 2,800 metres of climbing\u2014van der Poel powered on alone, turning the race into a personal time trial against the peloton.<\/p>\n
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Chasers, including a temporary six-rider group, tried and failed to close the gap. Teams such as Quick-Step, Lidl-Trek and EF Education-EasyPost organised pursuits, but van der Poel maintained a comfortable advantage that still stood at well over a minute in the closing kilometres.<\/p>\n
He crossed the line in 4 hours 10 minutes 58 seconds, 1 minute 4 seconds clear of Mikkel Honor\u00e9, with fellow Dutchman Pepijn Reinderink third at 1:09. It was van der Poel\u2019s second stage victory of the race and the longest successful solo effort of his professional career.<\/p>\n
Afterwards he admitted the move had not been planned. \u201cI have no idea. It wasn\u2019t the plan before the start,\u201d he said. \u201cI found myself alone early on and just rode at my own tempo the whole day. I had incredible legs today.\u201d<\/p>\n
While van der Poel stole the show, Davide Piganzoli of Visma-Lease a Bike safely secured the overall title.<\/p>\n