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Lotto Dstny had an amazing season and Lennert van Eetvelt has a lot to be grateful for. After winning the UAE Tour earlier this year, the 23-year-old is poised to win his second World Tour stage race of the season as he was victorious in the queen stage of the Tour of Guangxi today.
It was a victory that capped a groundbreaking season of incredible success. Despite a serious injury that forced him out of racing from early March to late June, van Eetvelt returned to racing and reached his best level. He finished on the podium at the Clásica San Sebastián, came second behind Primoz Roglic on the first mountain stage of the Vuelta a España and most recently finished seventh at Il Lombardia – where he seemed to be on the podium until the final kilometers.
“I didn’t feel particularly good today at first. But if the team wants to work for you, you can’t complain and you just have to give it your all,” said van Eetvelt in a post-race interview. Lotto Dstny had to work on the climb after a dangerous early attack. “When Tim Wellens attacked, I thought today wouldn’t be my day. But the last kilometer is so hard and I know how to keep my own pace on sections like that, so I just kept going.”
Van Eetvelt led the group even before the extremely steep section of the climb, but fully responded to Oscar Onley as he started an early sprint to the finish line on gradients over 10%. The duo overtook Victor Lafay, who fought off the same move as Wellens and was then fastest in the sprint. Van Eetvelt, a day before the end of the race, has secured the lead.
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