Asgreen hopes he has energy for Alaphilippe and the Alps after unplanned breakaway

A breakaway of 33 always brings a concoction of disparate types of rider, and among the most interesting on stage 17 of the Tour de France was Kasper Asgreen, who went on to finish second.

The Dane’s presence up the road was slightly unusual given he is a key domestique for Deceuninck-QuickStep, who currently lead the race through Julian Alaphilippe. Asgreen is not a mountain domestique but can climb – he won an uphill finishto Lake Tahoe at the Tour of California in May – and, in a team largely built around sprinter Elia Viviani, will be relied upon as Alaphilippe fights to defend his jersey in the Alps.

On the long stage to Gap on the eve of the Alpine trio of stages, Asgreen wasn’t resting up in a peloton that coasted in 20 minutes behind the break. He was up front and made a play for the stage win.

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At the finish, Asgreen admitted it hadn’t been in the team’s briefing for a rider to go in the break.

"I’m quite happy with that. It was a great day out and I’m happy the team believed in me and let me stay out front even though it was not the plan to have somebody in the breakaway today," Asgreen told Cyclingnews.

"They basically told me try to stay there, see how it goes, if it keeps turning for a long time and you get close to the finale, you can do finale, but if race opens up early you have to drop back because we don’t want you to spend so much energy."

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