Rome: Victor Campenaerts (Team Qhubeka Assos) won Sunday his first World Tour victory in stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia in Gorizia. The Belgium time trial specialist attacked out of a large breakaway of 15 riders taking a small group clear. Only Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix) was able to live with Campenaerts and the pair was engaged in a fierce tactical battle as they neared the finish line.
In the sprint to the finish line, Campenaerts showed that he had enough power in his legs to ensure victory.
Stage 16 will certainly be tougher Monday. It will be a day to climb with the route passing through the Dolomites the riders will have climbs of over 2,000 metres thrice. They will then have a steep descent at Cortina D’Ampezzo, as they approach the finish line.
“It was fantastic,” said Campenaerts. “This morning at breakfast we said ‘what else can we do to make this Giro greater for the team?’ Three victories are just epic, we went all-in for today as it was the last chance to get a good result with the team we have,” Campenaerts was quoted as saying by ‘cyclingnews.com’.
We gave everything at the start. It was quite dramatic with the crashes. We were already away in the first few kilometres but we did the same thing again. Three guys in the breakaway and we were just so committed. We all had a good result and I took the victory. We try to give everything for each other and we did an amazing race,” he added.
