陡坡上攻勢連發 特恩斯入手生涯首座環法單站

特恩斯(Dylan Teuns)生涯首度挑戰環法，就在美少女高地的山頂終點，取得單站冠軍的好成績！這一勝，也是27歲的比利時好手，職業生涯拿下的最大勝利；除此之外，這更是巴林美利達車隊成軍3年以來，在環法值得紀念的首勝入袋，對於我們而言，這場勝利的到來別富意義。

昨夜進行的第6站，為第106屆環法首個山頂終點站，也是第一週的關鍵賽段，在160.5公里的賽程中，設置多達7座登山點。開賽沒有多久，特恩斯便代表巴林美利達，隻身加入大型的突圍集團；無畏賽程中的艱難陡坡，與後方集團的猛烈追擊，特恩斯通過一次次的篩選，最終在雙人小組當中，展現優勢的續航力，一舉收穫這座單站冠軍。

回顧賽事之初，特恩斯首先分享自己加入領先集團的情形：「這是適合突圍車手的一站，我也在這個賽段尋求好的機會，最終前線形成一個14人的集團，我們合作的狀態相當不錯。當我們看到秒差不斷擴大，集團中的每位成員，開始相信我們有率先抵達終點的可能。」

從開賽的突圍集團，一路同行至比賽到決勝時刻，特恩斯也透露更多內心的想法：「我知道奇科內(Giulio Ciccone)是一位相當強勁的對手，他在今年的環義賽拿過單站，對我來說，這個情勢和去年的環西班牙(第17站)相當類似，當時的我輸給伍茲(Michael Woods)，而我知道今天的自己，不能再犯下相同的錯誤。」

「我必須要保持冷靜，等待對的時機到來。在終點前500公尺處，我多次發動嘗試，最後終於在第3次出擊，順利甩開對手，我看到我們之間拉開一點差距，便持續加壓朝終點線邁進。能贏下這一站太不可思議，對我來說，這是夢想成真的一刻。」

特恩斯的爸媽和女朋友，也在現場即時分享了這份巨大的喜悅；看到重要的家人們，見證他人生當中的重要勝利，原先競賽緊繃的情緒，也在這個時候爆發出來。相信在接下來的賽段，特恩斯和巴林美利達的環法戰隊，還會有更多精彩的表現，讓我們持續鎖定第106屆環法賽的精彩戰情！

原文：
The Tour de France is the most important race of cycling’s calendar. At this year’s first, demanding mountaintop finish at la Planche des Belles Filles, Dylan Teuns turned a strong performance into the first stage victory both for him and for the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM.

For this year’s Tour de France the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM sent a strong team in support of its designated overall captain Vincenzo Nibali. Rohan Dennis and Damiano Caruso bring a wealth of experience, Jan Tratnik is a powerful engine for the team time trial, Sonny Colbrelli and Ivan Cortina can try their hand at the sprint finishes and Dylan Teuns and Matej Mohoric are free to hunt a stage win when the opportunity arises. In the opening stage held in Brussels, Sonny Colbrelli sprinted to a 5th place, and on the next day, the team managed to keep the time loss to most teams within a narrow margin in the test against the clock. The best result throughout the initial five stages was a 4th place by Colbrelli at the end of stage 5 in Colmar.

The sixth stage had been marked by many overall contenders long before the Tour de France set off as it was the first mountaintop finish of this year’s race: But while previous stages to la Planche des Belles Filles had finished at the parking lot at the end of the paved road, this year the stage continued for another kilometre on an unpaved road that maxed out at gradients of 24 per cent. About 15 kilometres into the stage, a group of 14 riders went up the road with Belgian Dylan Teuns representing the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM. Amongst those attackers the motivations were pretty diverse: While some were hoping for a prestigious stage win in the Vosges mountains, others wanted to collect as many points as possible in the fight for the best climber’s jersey. As for Dylan Teuns, he was clearly aiming for a stage win in what was his first-ever participation at the Tour de France, but he was facing some strong climbers.

A series of categorized climbs shrank down the lead group bit by bit, and when the climb to la Planche des Belles Filles started, there were only four riders left upfront: Dylan Teuns, his compatriots Tim Wellens and Xandro Meurisse and Giulio Ciccone. With about four kilometres to go both Wellens and Meurisse lost contact, so Teuns had one rival left in the fight for the coveted stage win: The winner of the climber’s classification at the most recent Giro d’Italia. To keep the chasing overall contenders at bay the duo cooperated nicely all the way to the final kilometre and the brutally steep, unpaved ramps. Then Dylan Teuns showed his class: While his rival almost came to a standstill on the steepest sections, Teuns managed to keep his momentum, distancing Ciccone and scoring his first stage win at the Tour de France, which was also the first win for the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM at «la Grande Boucle». 

Eleven days earlier Domen Novak had scored the only win for the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM on a weekend when many national federations held their national road championships. His win crowned his comeback from a serious injury and the resulting break. The race was held on quite a tough circuit. Novak set off early with a bunch of other riders. In the finale, the group had shrunk to three riders and Novak was facing two riders of the pro continental team Adria Mobil. He solved this challenging situation by attacking with 15 kilometres to go, leaving the other two riders behind and riding to an undisputed solo victory and the Slovenian national championship title. On the same day, Sonny Colbrelli had to settle for 2nd at the Italian national championships as Davide Formolo had managed to stay out of the reach of the chasing peloton. Yukiya Arashiro also finished the championship race in Japan in 2nd.

106TH TOUR DE FRANCE, STAGE 6: MULHOUSE - LA PLANCHE DES BELLES FILLES, 160.5KM
1. Dylan Teuns, BEL/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, in 4:29.03 hours
2. Giulio Ciccone, ITA, + 0.11
3. Xandro Meurisse, BEL, + 1.05

SLOVENIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, RADOVLJICA - RADOVLJICA, 149.8KM
1. Domen Novak, SVN/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, in 3:49.03 hour
2. Gasper Katrasnik, SVN, + 1.09
3. Marko Kump, SVN, st

ITALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: BORGO VAL DI TARO - COMPIANO, 226.9KM
1. Davide Formolo, ITA, in 5:35.23 hours
2. Sonny Colbrelli, ITA/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, + 0.23
3. Alberto Bettiol, ITA, st

JAPANESE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: FUJI - FUJI, 227KM
1. Shotaro Iribe, JPN, in 6:12.27 hours
2. Yukiya Arashiro, JPN/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, st
3. Kohei Yokotsuka, JPN, + 0.08