The 81st edition of the SkodaTour Luxembourg started on Tuesday with the first stage over 140 km, which started in Luxembourg-Kirchberg and also ended there. Six riders formed the breakaway group of the day: Jack Bauer (BikeExchange), Sebastian Schönberger (B&B Hotels), Kenny Molly (Bingoal), Angel Fuentes Paniego (Burgos), Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko) and Emerson Oronte (Rally). They had a lead of almost four minutes over the peloton, but 2 km before the finish Bauer was the last escapee to be caught.

39 riders made it over the Cote de Stafelter with 9 km to go. In the end, Joao Almeida (Deceuninck) won the sprint ahead of Bauke Mollema (Trek) and Marc Hirschi (UAE Emirates).

Almeida, who is considered as one of the favourites for the overall victory, now leads the overall classification, the points classification and the classification of the best young rider. Molly snatched the mountains jersey.

Joao Almeida: “To be honest, I didn’t feel that good during the stage. But when it came down to it, I had strong legs. We will continue to try to take victories in the coming days. We took responsibility and my teammates gave me great support.”

The second stage leads from Steinfort to Eschdorf (Esch-sur-Sûre) on Wednesday.