Alexey Lutsenko: "At the moment Pogacar is too strong for anyone"

Alexey Lutsenko has finally reached good form, now in April as Astana Qazaqstan Team are desperate for UCI points. He was satisfied with his performance at Amstel Gold Race, however upset at the lack of collaboration from Andreas Kron, and also gave his opinion on the dominant performance of Tadej Pogacar.

“Fifth is not bad when you realize that less than 48 hours ago I finished and won the queen stage of the Tour of Sicily. After four hours of sleep, I also had a long travel day," Lutsenko said in a post-race interview. "...I don't think I did too much work in that breakaway. In the beginning I did a lot because it was important to me to keep moving forward with the group.”

The Kazakh took part in the decisive move of the day and then apparently made all the right decisions. It was about the legs and when Pogacar first pushed the pace Lutsenko was in the first chasing group. “We have to be honest, at the moment Pogacar is too strong for anyone. When I looked at my power meter, I saw that it wasn't going bad at all."

He was collaborating with Andreas Kron of Lotto Dstny but was visibly unsatisfied with the Dane's lack of work at first when the gap was small. All riders were on the limit after a brutal race that kicked off early. "The difference between Pogacar and his two fellow attackers and me was five seconds for a long time, but my companion Andreas Kron took – how shall I put it? – not really good about it," the Astana rider added.

The duo nevertheless kept working together but was just short of fighting for the podium. The duo sprinted to fourth and fifth, with Lutsenko having the more modest sprint to the line, as they watched Tom Pidcock survive to third spot.

“After two hundred kilometers it is not abnormal if you can no longer close a gap. But in the last kilometer it looked like we could catch Pidcock back for a podium place, but we came just too late. And to be honest, after six hours of racing I didn't have much in my legs either. They were dead. We are not machines, but I am happy with the result. What a tough day in the cold and the rain!" Lutsenko concluded.