Our young Aussie takes a huge result for our Future Racing squad in the Ardennes!
Over a demanding 177km route through the Ardennes, Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 was shaped, as always, by repeated attacks and selective climbing, with the race gradually whittling down to a small group of contenders. Héctor Álvarez was highly active throughout, launching moves in the peloton and helping animate the race as the key selections formed on the climbs . In the finale, he played a crucial role, delivering a perfectly timed lead-out to set up Jack Ward for the sprint, where the young Australian powered to an impressive second place. The result continues a strong run of form for the 20 year old, who recently finished second overall at the Circuit des Ardennes and fourth at the Australian national championships . Having won the XCO and XCC Elite titles only a couple of weeks ago, Ward is establishing himself as one of the standout multi-discipline development riders in the peloton. A great showing by the full team, with Álvarez backing it up with a well-earned eighth place.
From Jack..
There was a massive break at the start with like maybe 30 guys and all the climbs were ridden pretty hard, but nothing crazy. The first time up Côte de La Redoute, Andrea and Gabriel sett me and Hector up perfectly for that. Myself and Lorenzo got away and caught the break at the top of La Redoute but then it kind of all came back together, like small groups joining. Coming to the finish, there were heaps of attacks in our group. Myself and Hector kept launching and going one after the other, but nothing stuck. With one km to go, I attacked but I got caught with 350metres to go, got in the wheels again and then sprinted again with the help of Hector. I'm still happy to get second and the team was really good all day.
