Visma | Lease a Bike shows a different side on Sunday in Flanders and France: "Tulett executed it perfectly"

Visma Lease a Bike may not be collecting victories one after the other, but after Olav Kooij's second place in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the team also received a boost from France on Sunday. Ben Tulett claimed third place in the Faun Drôme Classic, a result the British rider can be proud of.

Tulett had already been the best finisher for Visma | Lease a Bike in the Faun-Ardèche Classic the day before in 14th place, and he stepped it up a notch on Sunday. Although there was little he could do about winner Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and runner-up Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Tulett did win the sprint for third place by a comfortable margin.

The words of encouragement from Saturday proved to be justified. "If you can't stay with the best in the final moments, then we have to be honest and admit there simply wasn't more in it today," said team leader Maarten Wynants in a press release. "Tomorrow (Sunday, ed.), the course is still tough, but I expect more chances for us. It suits Axel (Zingle) and Ben well, so I'm curious to see what they can do. In any case, we will give everything to achieve a strong result."

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Tulett excels on day two in the Ardeche

It was a sign of things to come because Tulett excelled with a third place. At least, the 23-year-old British rider candidly stated in a new press release. "This is a nice way to end the weekend," a satisfied Tulett said. "As a team, we rode a powerful race. The final was tough, and my sprint perhaps went even better than expected. Initially, we wanted Axel to contest the sprint for third place, but I felt good and could hold on until the finish."

This allowed Tulett to avoid fast punchers such as Marc Hirschi (Tudor) and Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek). "In the end, this was the best possible outcome. Ayuso showed an incredibly high-level today and deserved the win. We can be happy with how we performed." Wynants agrees: "Yesterday, things didn't go our way, but today, fortune was more on our side. We got the absolute maximum out of it with this third place. We knew we had to start the sprint early because it was a technical finish. Ben executed it perfectly. He picked the right line and secured a well-earned podium spot."

Read also

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"I won't race for any other team than Visma | Lease a Bike for the rest of my career"—It’s a huge compliment to the team

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