On Monday 10th of June, the young talents of Intermarché-Wanty shone on the first stage of the Tour de Suisse, with Gerben Kuypers conquering a distinctive jersey and Francesco Busatto in the sprint.
Gerben Kuypers, member of Charles Liégeois Roastery CX cyclocross team, stepped up to the World Team last April and is making his debut in a World Tour stage race at the Tour de Suisse.
It was a debut he immediately made his mark on, as the day after the prologue, the 24 year old Belgian took the best climber jersey by joining the early breakaway, scoring ten points in two of the three sprints that counted for the classification.
Once the breakaway with Kuypers had been caught in the final ten kilometres, Francesco Busatto took ninth place in the sprint. It was the first top 10 finish in a World Tour event for the neopro formed by Wanty-ReUz-Technord.
"I arrived at this Tour de Suisse full of confidence, because I progressively feel less after-effects of the health problems I've been struggling with last winter. This morning, in our tactical meeting, I was chosen along with Lilian Calmejane and Simone Petilli to join in the breakaway in this first stage. I managed to escape fairly quickly, with four other riders, and I had the impression that I was one of the strongest at the front. I did a lot of pulls and was able to win the first KOM sprint after 42km. In the leading group, there were two duos from the same team, which didn't make it any easier for me in the second sprint. But tactically I managed it quite well, enabling me to keep the lead after this second sprint. At the start, I never imagined I'd be on the podium at the end of this first stage. For a first World Tour stage race, it's a good start. This race will make me again somewhat stronger. Afterwards follows the Belgian championship, a week of rest and my first altitude training camp with the team, a new phase that I'm really looking forward to discovering!"
