Stage 1: Luxembourg-Knuedler – Luxembourg-Fëschmaart, 157.5 km

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) won the opening stage of the Škoda Tour de Luxembourg in an uphill sprint in Luxembourg City. The Dutchman finished ahead of Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) and Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), both credited with the same time. Per Strand Hagenes (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) completed the top five, two seconds down.

Starting from the Knuedler, the stage took the peloton into the north of the country before returning to the capital. The central section was the most demanding part of the day, featuring the Montée du Niklosbierg (4.5 km at 6.1%), the longest categorised climb of the stage, followed by the Côte de Bourscheid and the Côte d’Eschdorf (2.8 km at 8.4%), the steepest.

The day’s breakaway formed in the early part of the race and consisted of six riders: Cole Kessler (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling), Fábio Costa (Feira dos Sofás – Boavista), Ruud Junior Nagengast (Metec – Solarwatt p/b Mantel), Malte Hellerup (Team Coloquick), Jonathan Malte Rottmann (Team Lotto Kern-Haus Outlet Montabaur) and Noé Ury (National Team Luxembourg). The peloton allowed them a maximum advantage of around 3’20’’.

The leading group broke up on the Côte de Bourscheid (3.6 km at 7.2%). Costa and Hellerup continued alone, while their four former companions found themselves in an intermediate position between the two leaders and the bunch.

From that point the gap came down steadily. With 55 kilometres remaining, the advantage was back to 1’30’’. Hellerup, the last survivor of the early move, was caught with 12 kilometres to go.

The stage was decided on the Côte de Stafelter (2.6 km at 6.5%), with its summit 9 kilometres from the line. Van der Poel attacked and Eike Behrens (Team Lotto Kern-Haus Outlet Montabaur) countered. The two riders found themselves alone at the front of the race. Their move ended 4 kilometres from the finish, where both were brought back.

In the closing kilometres through the streets of the capital, van der Poel won the sprint to take the first stage victory of this edition, with Gautherat and van den Berg immediately behind him and Hagenes and Stuyven crossing the line two seconds later.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech): “We wanted to take the penultimate climb fast in order to eliminate the sprinters. But perhaps it was a little too fast, and it would have made no sense to ride alone at the front all the way to the final climb. That is why, after my attack, I tried to gather some energy again for the final sprint. I already knew this finish and I knew it would be hard. But that way I was able to manage my effort well. As a team we will keep trying to win stages, but also the general classification.”