Bam 👊🏾. The Wolfpack never gives up 🍾. Congrats @k_asgreen @soudalquickstep
It's taken a lot longer than many would have expected or predicted but finally, Soudal - Quick-Step have managed to break their duck at the 2023 Tour de France courtesy of Kasper Asgreen's stage 18 victory.
"We never give up," Soudal - Quick-Step's sports director Wilfried Peeters told Sporza from outside of the team bus in a post-stage interview. "The atmosphere was definitely good and we tried every day in the breakaway."
"In the high mountains we fall short and we missed Fabio Jakobsen, but we had to try today and tomorrow," he continues. "3 men in the leading group, that was a bit little, but we tried to play it tactically. The interference was also necessary. We know from experience that sprinter teams have a hard time in the last week. Sometimes a breakaway stays ahead. We were a bit lucky that it now falls on our side."
It was a thrilling finale to the stage, with Asgreen taking his first Tour de France stage win from a breakaway that narrowly held of a quickly oncoming peloton. "Whoever doesn't dare, doesn't win," says Peeters. "We stand behind each other as one team. This was necessary, but you should never despair."
Bam 👊🏾. The Wolfpack never gives up 🍾. Congrats @k_asgreen @soudalquickstep