Kevin Geniets new champion of Luxembourg!

Kevin Geniets will long remember his first professional victory. Three days after his bronze medal in the Luxembourg time trial championship, the 23-year-old put an end to Bob Jungels’ reign in the road race on Sunday. He even outsprinted the latter to stop his series of five consecutive titles and therefore obtain his first gold medal with the Elites.

“I wanted to win this title so badly”, Kevin Geniets

For the 2020 edition of their national championship, the riders from Luxembourg were expected near Mamer on Sunday, where they had to repeat a circuit of nearly 24 kilometers six times. Quite quickly, the strongest men on paper logically broke away. “We were several WorldTour riders at the start,” explained Kevin Geniets. “There was still a high level. After twenty kilometers, eight of us went up front and then the race progressively took its toll until the finish.” First accompanied by Bob Jungels (Deceuninck Quick-Step), Luc and Tom Wirtgen (Bingoal-Wallonie-Bruxelles), Alex Kirsch (Trek-Segafredo), Jempy Drucker (Bora-Hansgrohe), Ivan Centrone (Natura4Ever Lille Metropole), Tom Thill ( XSpeed ​​United Continental) as well as Arthur Kluckers (Leopard), the Groupama-FDJ’s rider, waited until the penultimate lap before making a decisive move.

“About twenty kilometers from the finish I went away with Bob Jungels,” he said. “I then attacked him once to test him and saw he was beatable. We finally got to the sprint together and I told myself that I couldn’t make a tactical mistake, that this kind of opportunity wouldn’t come up every year. I tried to be smart”. Victorious of his duel with the former winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Kevin Geniets not only ended his compatriot’s reign but also got his first professional success. “It was a very tough race, but I wanted to win this title so badly, and in the end it worked out”, he added. “The victory is really beautiful in itself, moreover because it is my first within the pro ranks, but it is above all a real gift to be able to wear this jersey for a year in the biggest races”.