Georg Preidler raced to 16th as the early break stayed clear on the closing stage of the Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg. Linus Gerdemann successfully defended his yellow jersey and won the overall classification.

The fourth and final stage of the Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg consisted of 129km and four local laps of 6.7km each, making a total of 156km. Shortly after the start was given, eleven riders escaped from the bunch to spend their day in the front, they enjoyed a maximum advantage of 6’.

Cult Energy Pro Cycling controlled the break most of the stage. On the last local lap the leading group was decimated and only five riders were left. On the line Belgian Sean de Bie was the fastest and took the third stage win for Lotto – Soudal. Linus Gerdemann (Cult Energy Pro Cycling) sealed the overall win in Luxembourg, as the reduced bunch came in 43“ behind on the escapees. Prediler was also part of that group to finish 16th and is the first for Team Giant-Alpecin in the general classification at 15th.

Preidler said: “We tried to go for Lars [van der Haar] but unfortunately we reacted too late to close the gap. At the end the climb was a little bit too hard for Lars so I tried to make the race as hard as possible by attacking, but I didn’t manage to get away.

“I am really satisfied with my current level. This race was a good test for my legs and showed that I trained well in the last month where I had a period without races to fully focus on preparing for the upcoming goals.”