[Cyclisme] Wenzel confirms her shape

After signing his first top 5 last week, Mats Wenzel went up on the podium on Saturday.

A few days ago, Mats Wenzel had struck hard by signing his very first top 5 in the pros for a stage of the Tour d’Anturies. In short, the form is there. And on Saturday, the runner of Kern Pharma demonstrated it again. This time going on the Podium of the Ardennes arrow. He finished third, behind runners with a much more supplied track record than him, like the winner, the Belgian Jarno Widar (Lotto DVPT), ​​already winner of the Giro Next Gen last year or even Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23, two weeks ago.

On Saturday, Mats Wenzel found himself in an event that was to suit him: “It is a great race with a lot of climbs throughout the day and the fatigue that plays at the end.” The Luxembourg runner had good legs: “When he started to rain, I felt really good.”

But the rain was going to be so strong that the race was neutralized for long minutes. Before finally leaving: “Suddenly, I realized that the race was relaunched. As we have no radio, many of us were not informed. ”

Fortunately, Mats Wenzel did not take long to return to the front of the race: “Five guys had left. We have returned to them in the last 40 km, with the steepest climbs. After the second big climb, there were only 15 of it. ”

“A podium was the goal”

The Grand-Ducal runner then accelerated to place himself at the front and approach, before, the justice of the race for the race, the Stockeu coast borrowed a few days ago by a certain Tadej Pogacar in his lonely flight towards a third success on the round: “At the Watts per pounds, the two in front are stronger than me. I only managed to move away from the second group to finish solo. ”

So he finished third: “A podium was the goal. But you never know what to expect. ”

Yesterday, on the other hand, he abandoned on the Famenne Ardenne Classic, won to the sprint by the German Max Kanter (Astana) in front of his Dutch teammate Cees Bol and the Belgian Arne Marit (Intermarché): “I fell. Nothing too serious, just a little skin on the elbow and knee. But I took a minute to recover and with the commissioner’s dam, it was impossible to come back. ” He will now rest a few days before resuming training for the Tour of Hungary next week.

The ranking: 1. Jarno Widar (Bel/Lotto DVPT), ​​the 174.3 km in 4 h 27‘25« ; 2. Lorenzo Finn (ITA / Red Bull Rookies) to 3« ; 3. Mats Wenzel (LUX/Kern Pharma) 39« ; 4. Filippo Turconi (ITA/BARDIANI) 1‘07« ; 5. AARON DOCKX (Call/Alpecin DVPT) MT…