Danish rider Julius Johansen concluded his concluded the first Grand Tour of his career by ensuring a show until the final hectometers. During the traditional closing stage through the streets of the capital he resisted to the peloton with a 14 second gap for almost 40 kilometer, together with Luke Plapp.
He is one of the three riders of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux to reach Madrid, with a prestigious stage win on top of Les Praeres and an eleventh place in the final classification for South-African climber Louis Meintjes. Jan Bakelants, who represented the team in the breakaway four times, finished his fifteenth Grand Tour in 29th place.
« I’m proud that I tried everything until the last moment to finish in the top ten of the general classification of this Vuelta. Just like in the Tour de France, I participated to the GC battle in an offensive wat, by going into breakaways. This resulted in a second place on Alpe d’Huez in July and a victory on Les Praeres two weeks ago, among others. Until now I’ve been in race mode, even today I made serious efforts to stay concentrated. I’m looking forward to a well deserved rest period now. In the next days I’ll probably fully realize what I achieved. Not only in this Vuelta, because there have been so many nice moments this season! »
