Astana Cycling Team (Italy) - He went solo with 37 kilometers to go, crashed two times, dropped back in a group of four and still won stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico: Today was a rollercoaster ride for Alexey Lutsenko. While Jakob Fuglsang controlled the chasing group behind Lutsenko, the Kazakh champion crashed two times, but both times he managed to get back on his bike as quick as he went down. In the final sprint with three other riders, he had the strongest sprint towards the finish with his teammate Fuglsang finishing fourth behind Primoz Roglic and Adam Yates.

- It was a crazy race today. I felt really good, so I decided to attack, but it was still far to the finish. Jakob Fuglsang did a great job controlling the group behind me, as the whole team performed really well today to get me and Jakob in a good position before the start of the final. I went in TT mode, but somehow I missed a corner and crashed at the side of the road, but I could only think about moving on and I was able to get on my bike really fast again. The second crash was more bad and harder, and this time the three riders behind me including Jakob were able to come back. But in my head, I still didn’t lose the race, I still believed in a stage win. When I won the final sprint and took the victory, I was happy but in a lot of pain at the same time. I’m very proud that I took another win for my team, I really believe this is something we achieved all together because of our hard work at the several training camps, - said Alexey Lutsenko.

- We had a really strong team today, they did a fantastic job. They were all united during the race, working for Alexey Lutsenko and Jakob Fuglsang. We were not afraid to attack far from the finish line, because we knew a lot of riders would decide not to follow, because it’s a risk to lose everything. But today we were strong and brave with these attacks, this was the key point of our success today. Of course, Alexey and Jakob finished it very well, even when Alexey crashed two times. We have many victories so far, but this is not what is most important for us. The most important thing is that all of our riders started the season in very good shape, they were ready to get results and work together. As a result of this, you get victories, and of course we are delighted with all these wins, - said sports director Alexandr Shefer.

It was another long stage after yesterday’s 226 kilometers, starting from Foligno to finish in Fossombrone after 221 kilometers of racing, including two hard HC categorized climbs in the final 20 kilometers. A group of ten riders formed the day’s breakaway and they created a gap with the bunch of more than 9 minutes. But going into the final 100 kilometers, several riders started to chase from the peloton, including our Dmitriy Gruzdev. From that moment, the race exploded. The breakaway was reeled in, there were several crashes in the descent and in the end there was a select group including Alexey Lutsenko and Jakob Fuglsang.

With 37 kilometers to go, Alexey Lutsenko decided to attack. The Kazakh champion managed to create a gap of more than 50 seconds, with Jakob Fuglsang controlling the chasing group. But due to the two crashes, Lutsenko got caught by Jakob Fuglsang, Primoz Roglic and Adam Yates. In the sprint for the stage win, Lutsenko showed he didn’t give up after his crashes, winning stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico. His teammate Fuglsang finished fourth, behind Roglic and Yates. Adam Yates holds the race lead after stage 4 and with three stages remaining.

Tomorrow the riders will start in Colli al Metauro to finish in Recanati after 180 kilometers of racing with multiple challenging climbs.

Photo: ©Getty Images.