ProTeam Andreas Kron sprints to strong fourth in Lausanne

The Danish Tour debutant impresses at the end of stage eight.
09 July 2022

Lotto Soudal rider Andreas Kron has taken a strong fourth place at the end of stage eight at the Tour de France, which was decided in a reduced bunch sprint following a punchy five-kilometre climb in Lausanne, Switzerland. Wout Van Aert took the stage honours, Andreas Kron got in the mix for the victory and managed to finish 4th behind Van Aert, Matthews and Pogacar. Earlier in the day, Frederik Frison was part of an early three-rider breakaway. That way, Lotto Soudal can look back on a nice team performance.

“Of course I hoped for more, but to be up there in the sprint is a good sign and shows that the legs are good, which gives me confidence for the next stages. My Tour de France has now really started”, said Andreas Kron. “With Frederik Frison in the breakaway, we found ourselves in a nice situation. Once he got caught, we put all our money on the final. Even Caleb Ewan did his share of the work to get me and Philippe Gilbert at the front. On the climb itself it was just about following and when the sprint started, it suddenly opened up on the right. I came onto the wheel of Matthews but didn’t have the speed to pass him.”

After the finish, Kron praised his teammates, who did the perfect job in getting him into a good position towards the final climb.

“To have a rider like Caleb Ewan doing the lead-out for you, really shows how good the atmosphere is in the team. We worked hard for Caleb but partly due to bad luck we didn’t manage to get a win so far. It is really nice that he now works for me. This top five spot is a good sign and hopefully we are on the good way now. If we continue working like this, there are definitely some nice things to come”, says Andreas Kron.

Contrary to what was expected, a breakaway of three formed pretty early after the start in Dole including Lotto Soudal rider Frederik Frison, Mattia Cattaneo and Fred Wright. They were kept on a tight leash by the bunch and when the breakaway upped the pace at sixty kilometres from the finish, Frison had to let go of his companions on a tough uphill stretch.

Frederik Frison: “The goal was to have somebody in the break but eventually it only consisted of three riders, which was really small. With two climbers’ types as breakaway companions, it would always be a difficult day for me. The course didn’t really suit me and when the pace went up, I was on the limit quite soon. I was dropped but with a strong performance of Andreas in the final, we showed ourselves really well as a team today.”

Images: Facepeeters & Photo News.

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