Team Sunweb on Saturday underscored its dominance in the breakaway stages of the 2020 Tour de France. Forty-eight hours after Marc Hirsch's crushing victory in Salins, Søren Kragu Andersen scored a solo victory on stage 14 in the heart of France's second-largest city, Lyon.

In Salins, Andersen was third with teammate Nicolas Roche and defended Hirschi's gains in the chase group, but in Lyon, on a technical, hilly course 3km from the finish, he had a chance to take glory alone.

Teammate Thijsje Benoot had attacked on the first of Lyon's two climbs.

Then it was Hirschi's turn to jump out of the lead, although he was held back by classics specialists Julien Alaphilippe (Dečuninck-Quickstep), Greg Van Avermaet (CCC), and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe). Claf Andersen was waiting in the wings to clear for the second time.

Sunweb has a solid ability to create opportunities for success in the Tour de France even without star sprinters and climbers. Their decision to leave Michael Matthews out of the Tour was controversial, but they are quickly turning into a powerhouse team when it comes to the race's breakaway stages.

Asked if there is a specific team order as to who will attack and when, Krachen Andersen said that Sunweb "has a general plan to race aggressively, but nothing more.

"The rest of what happened today was all intuition. It was hard not to doubt myself early in the race, but I told myself that if I waited I would get my chance. It was the perfect moment to attack."

He counter-attacked from behind Benoot at the Côte de la Croix-Rousse, an honest mistake that was not intentional, but rather done in the heat of the moment.

"I was told over the radio, "Tige, go, go," but I was pushing so hard to get in front myself that I didn't notice his attack. After I got in front of him, I saw him there, so I stopped. Fortunately, I didn't mess anything up," recalled Krager Andersen.

This year, when single-stage breakaways were rare until the first week in Prevas, Krag Andersen was able to prevent a group sprint from happening and to eliminate Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) from the breakaway, as Beulah Hansgrohe did early on. He said that the fact that they stayed at a high pace was very important in improving their chances.

"It had a big impact on the race. They shrunk the peloton to half its usual size," noted Kragu Andersen, and the chase group behind him had only 50 men left by the finish.

"It was a perfect situation for me and the Sunweb team. We don't have a sprinter who can go over the climb, and he's not the fastest rider here. So we have to attack more often."

The successful teamwork Sunweb has shown at the Tour is not simply a matter of having the right strategy, according to Kraig Andersen. Rather, he recognizes that Hirschi's success two days ago has increased the motivation and desire to win for the entire team.

"When I see these young players doing great things, it inspires me and makes me believe in myself a little more," he said.

One factor that Kragh Andersen did not anticipate in the process leading to his victory in Lyon was the complete absence of fans on the finish straight due to COVID-19 measures implemented by the local authorities. As a result, Klaff Andersen did not receive the same ovation that he had enjoyed during his stage wins in the Tour de Suisse, Paris-Nice, and Paris-Tour.

"There were so many people on the last descent, an amazing crowd, and then when I got to the finish line, all of a sudden I had to celebrate by myself. [But it didn't matter, I still had the same feeling inside me. I stand by it."