After animating the lead group throughout the first day of the Hammer Series, Carlos Betancur launched Movistar into the lead Friday.
Carlos Betancur went into action through the third sprint, the first of three rushes with double points (20 for the winner) and quickly made up an early advantage from Sky and BMC, which soon turned into a deficit for the two as Betancur also won sprint no. 4.
It had been, though, just the start of a one-man-show by the Antioquia native: no less than five other sprints were won by Betancur, who never came through worse than second place at the remaining ones. His superiority over the rest of the field was evident at the final lap, where he got rid of early attacker Victor Campenaerts and raised his arms victorious at the symbolic finishing line.
The Movistar Team’s victory -144.8 points to Sunweb’s 98.9 (Dumoulin as best performer) and Sky’s 84.7 (Geoghegan Hart)- also rewards the Blues with a 15″ bonus for the Hammer Chase, the TTT pursuit format that will take the race to an end on Sunday.
“I’ve worked hard during the past weeks, with some altitude training in Andorra, adding lots of mileage to my account this year and trying to get ready for this important part of the season. A squad like this always requires from you to be really fit and consistent. The team is helping me out a lot to get back on track, and the results from the work we’ve done lately are really showing today.”
Hammer Series 2017 – Climb Stage:
| 1 | Movistar Team | 144.8 |
| 2 | Team Sunweb | 98.9 |
| 3 | Team Sky | 84.7 |
| 4 | Orica-Scott | 83.3 |
| 5 | BMC Racing Team | 75.2 |
| 6 | Nippo – Vini Fantini | 53.6 |
| 7 | Quick-Step Floors | 53 |
| 8 | Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 27.7 |
| 9 | Lotto Soudal | 23.7 |
| 10 | Cannondale-Drapac | 2.3 |
