'It wasn't how I imagined my first pro win' – American Ineos Grenadiers rider sprints to maiden victory
AJ August takes advantage of racing situation at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana to sprint home with fresh legs
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Ineos Grenadiers rider Andrew 'AJ' August outgunned his breakaway rivals, and the peloton bearing down on them, to win stage three of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana for what was his first professional victory.
The 20-year-old followed three other attackers in the final kilometres of the 158km stage to San Vincente del Raspeig, having already helped bring a different break back in the service of his team's sprinter Ben Turner.
With the peloton – including Turner – never far behind, August sat on his three fellow escapees all the way to the finish, before launching his sprint at around 250m to go and taking a win that was unlikely to have been popular with his breakaway companions. The peloton was led home by Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling), ahead of Turner, four seconds back.
"I didn't expect a win at all today because with 50km to go, my team says to me, 'AJ, time to go to the front and pull back the breakaway'," August said afterwards.
"So I stayed in the peloton then tried, and reached the attack. I had no reason to ride because we had Ben [Turner] behind for the sprint so I used that to my advantage and made the win happen.
"It wasn't how I imagined my first professional win but I'd saved a lot of energy by not working full gas, but it was not my role to contribute. So I took advantage of being fresh, sprinted from the back and crossed the line first."
August has come close previously in the little over two years he has been at Ineos Grenadiers, with two second places on stages at last year's Tour of Austria, but this is his first victory.
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The result sees Girmay preserve the lead he took on general classification on the first day, with August's breakaway companion Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility) jumping 53 places to slot into second ahead of third placed Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
It follows yesterday's time trial stage to Alginet, which was won by Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) ahead of his team-mate Aleksandr Vlasov but neutralised for the GC because of high winds.
The race continues on Saturday with a lumpy, 172km outing from La Nucía to Teulada Moraira, and finishes on Friday in Valencia.
After cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers, James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields.
Eventually becoming chief sub-editor, in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer, and covers news, racing and features.
He has worked at a variety of races, from the Classics to the Giro d'Italia – and this year will be his seventh Tour de France.
A lifelong cyclist and cycling fan, James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him. But he still rides regularly, both on the road and on the gravelly stuff.
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