A rider who is already well known at international level and who has been a trainee of the Jumbo-Visma team since the 1st of August, has done a brilliant double at the end of the 4th stage of the Tour de l’Avenir, which took place between Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre and Chaillac, through the department of Indre.
The final stage was complicated by the rain and even more by a big crash that ruined the chances of the young French rider Jordan Labrosse (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), who was delayed for nearly a quarter of an hour and couldn’t defend his yellow jersey.
The yellow jersey is now on the shoulders of the British rider Thomas Gloag, who also won the stage ahead of the offensive Danish rider Adam Holm Jörgensen (winner the day before) and the German Michel Hessmann, who initiated this last attack of a very eventful race. These three riders had broken away in the last ten kilometres from a group of thirteen riders that had broken away with around fifty kilometres to go and the last five hundred meters of slight uphill climb allowed Thomas Gloag to secure his victory.
Twenty-year-old Thomas Gloag has a chance to defend his jersey during the 5th stage, a 27,9 km team time trial between Gueugnon and Saint-Vallier (Saône-et-Loire) and the Londoner counts on the support of several rouleurs specialists of the team pursuit within the British selection.
The French team, which is one of the favourites, didn’t come out of this tough day without any damage. Its climber Lenny Martinez lost a few seconds in a break in a very frayed peloton, whereas Romain Grégoire lost more than four minutes.
