Evenepoel and Alaphilippe set up Tour of Britain stage one win for Magnier

Evenepoel and Alaphilippe set up Tour of Britain stage one win for Magnier

03-Sep-2024 16:48:01 | The Guardian

  • Soudal-Quickstep teamwork tees up 20-year-old
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The spectacle of Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe unchained is worth the viewing, and if Tuesday’s opening stage of the Tour of Britain sets a precedent, this could be quite a week. The Belgian double Olympic champion and the French former double world champion combined on the roads of the Scottish borders to set up the win in Kelso for their youthful Soudal-Quickstep teammate Paul Magnier.

The Frenchman Magnier is all of 20, in his first season as a professional, and seemed overwhelmed to have France and Belgium’s finest riding their hearts out for him. Alaphilippe and Evenepoel rode hard to whittle the peloton down on the final climb out of Melrose, Evenepoel kept the pace intense on the descent towards Kelso, but it was Alaphilippe who did the hard, risky work in the final kilometre, rubbing shoulders unnervingly with Jake Stewart of Israel-Premier Tech to keep Magnier in position.

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