"It was incredible to take my first Tour de France stage victory" - Kasper Asgreen reflects on his highlight of 2023

With the 2023 road season at a close, many riders will be taking time to reflect on the year that has been and recapping their highlights. One such rider is Soudal - Quick-Step's Kasper Asgreen.

Undoubtedly the 28-year-old Dane's biggest day of 2023, came at the Tour de France as he finally managed to take his first Grand Tour stage win. “We had a pretty rough Tour de France this year, it was a really difficult race for us but we kept believing and remained really keen on showing our Wolfpack spirit and winning mentality," he recalls to the team's official website. "At the start of stage 18, we also knew there weren’t many opportunities left, so we were determined to give our best and keep trying, no matter how slim were our chances. The peloton was also tired after so many hard mountain stages, so a breakaway could have made it."

Part of the breakaway, Asgreen and co fought bravely but heading into the finale, a raging peloton was right behind and the catch seemed near. "Entering the final kilometre of the stage, we could feel them behind but we had confidence we could pull it off and with 200 meters to go I opened my sprint and just kept going, leaving everything out there," says the Dane.

Thankfully for him and fans of breakaway successes, Asgreen managed just hold on to win, with the first of the peloton's sprinters, Jasper Philipsen finishing fourth on the same time. "It was incredible to take my first Tour de France stage victory, especially after all the problems I’d had since the summer of 2022," he concludes. "I had come a long way and what I achieved wouldn’t have been possible without all the people who helped me and the amazing team that is Soudal Quick-Step. I was delighted that despite our setbacks our squad kept fighting and believing, and eventually got that win, our 50th at the race. It was really cool to help the squad achieve that milestone.”