Dutch powerhouse Arvid de Kleijn took his second victory for Rally Cycling at La Route Adélie de Vitré, the 12th round of the Coupe de France. De Kleijn dominated the finale, outsprinting his rivals to open up clear daylight between him and the rest of the field.
“It feels great to be back on the podium,” de Kleijn said afterwards in Vitré. “Like every sprinter, I’ve had some bad luck here and there, so today it was so nice to be back winning a bike race.”
🇫🇷 BOOM! @arviddekleijn blows the field away to win #RouteAdelie 🚀🦍 pic.twitter.com/KE1HUDfycY
— Rally Cycling (@Rally_Cycling) October 1, 2021
De Kleijn utilised the strength and power of first Adam de Vos and then Colin Joyce to reel the late breakaway rider in before he launched his devastating sprint.
“They put me where I wanted to be in the last kilometer. There were a lot of corners and I went all out with 300 meters to go to catch Emmanuel Morin (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) before the line.”
The race took place in torrential conditions with heavy rain falling on the route for the majority of the laps around the Breton town.
Nickolas Zukowsky spent most of the day out front and played a vital role in the “little gorilla’s” victory. The Canadian was initially in a breakaway of three before the group swelled to seven in the closing stages.
The team played their tactics perfectly with Zukowksy in the break, as the riders behind did not have to chase. With a proven finisher behind in de Kleijn, Zukowsky just needed to sit on the wheels out front.
“It was nice to see that he had such great legs,” de Kleijn said about his teammate. “It really was a team effort. For sure I need the legs to win but the team did a great job. It’s a great feeling to have guys riding for me like that, it feels like a family.”
It was a confidence boosting victory for the Dutchman who took the top step of the podium at the Tour of Turkey in similarly harsh weather. This time though, the 27-year-old had plenty of time to get his arms in the air.
The team will stay in France for Saturday’s Classic Loire-Atlantique and Paris-Bourges on October 7. With both having favorable parcours for either a strong breakaway rider or a bunch sprinter, there remain plenty of chances as the team begins to close out 2021 in style.
La Route Adélie de Vitré results
1 DE KLEIJN Arvid – Rally Cycling 4:44:23
2 MORIN Emmanuel – Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 0:02
3 TESSON Jason – St Michel – Auber93 ”
4 REINDERS Elmar – Riwal Cycling Team 0:04
5 GHIRMAY HAILU Biniam – Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux ”
6 FUENTES Ángel – Burgos-BH ”
7 REYNDERS Jens – Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise ”
8 ZINGLE Axel – Cofidis, Solutions Crédits ”
9 BARTHE Cyril – B&B Hotels p/b KTM ”
10 KONGSTAD Tobias – Riwal Cycling Team ”
