Yesterday André Greipel took his second stage victory in the Tour of Luxembourg. The German champion was the fastest at the finish in Diekirch. For most of the day, seven riders were on the attack, including Jens Debusschere.

After some 35 kilometers, a lead group of seven was formed. Jens Debusschere joined forces with  Bryan Coquard, Laurent Evrard, Arnaud Gerard, Romain Hardy, Patrick Olesen and Rodolfo Torres. This last stage was held on a hilly course. At the end of the stage, the riders had to complete two laps of almost sixteen kilometers containing a climb of 1500 meters with sectioonup to 16%. In the second lap, Torres took off on that climb. He was caught just 100m from the line by the peloton where Lotto Soudal did everything to get a sprint. That worked out well and André Greipel turned out to be the fastest. Lars Van der Haar was second, Enrico Gasparotto third.

The birth of Arton, the son of Jürgen Roelandts, gave a boost to the team and uncle Jens Debusschere.

"The Birth of Arton has definitely inspired me to go on the attack," Debusschere said. "This morning I was already aware of it but had to keep quiet, Jürgen wanted to announce the happy news to the world. I wanted to do well in the escape and was hoping for good companions. It required much effort to ride away on the hilly course. After thirty kilometers I was in front on one of the climbs, along with six others. We worked well together, but unfortunately some riders were close in the GC and so the peloton did not give us much room. I realized that it would be difficult to stay clear.

"We managed the stage well. At first, we set a leisurely pace and in the last sixty kilometers we wanted to give everything. That worked out because I was only 6km from the finish alongside five other rider. I knew that André Greipel was still part of the reduced peloton and no longer worked in the leading group in the finale. Torres was clearly the strongest uphill and I knew he would try something like this. In the end, I led the chase until 2km from the finish. After that Dennis Vanendert, Sean De Bie and Marcel Sieberg finalized the work. It is nice that the team gets another win."

"We delivered a tactical masterpiece. We can be very proud to have won again. We had Jens Debusschere in the break and I could sit back with the rest of the team. With one rider in front, it was very close but we are happy that we timed it well and caught the escapee," Greipel told De Wort.

"I am very sastsfied and I am glad that we could win again to continue our preparation for the Tour de France. My performance is good, the team is good.

"The German Championships is a completely different race. We are only two at the start with Marcel Sieberg and me. We have to race tactically smart."

Lotto Soudal also had success in Belgium. Sander Armée won De Heiste Pijl after a solo ride of twenty kilometers.