With Nacer Bouhanni out of the race, Cofidis are forced to ride aggressively in the Vuelta a Espana and that's what they did with Yoann Bagot in today's stage.
"I believed in our chances when we were 5:50 up at the start but when I head that the Katusha were chasing, I knew it would be difficult," he said. "We climbed the first passage full gas. I didn't really know the gaps so I was hoping that we could make some time up and that the peloton had given up. But when I saw we were only 1:15 up one kilometre before the climb, I realized it would be complicated. I wanted to get to the bottom with a little lead to see what I could do. But when I looked back, they were all there.
"Mentally I'm fine. My role was to protect Nacer and that was fine by me. Since he crashed, it's a different ballgame. I can go in the breaks. That's what I did today."
12.05 - 21.05: Tour d'Algérie |
22.05: GP de la Ville d'Annaba |
20.05 - 24.05: Cycling Tour of Albania |
24.05: GP de la Ville d'Alger |
23.05 - 25.05: Tour of Estonia |
25.05: GP Herning |
25.05: ZLM Omloop der Kempen |
25.05: Ladies Tour of Estonia |
25.05: Marcel Kint Classic |
25.05: Due Giorni Marchigiana |
Jonas HJORTH 31 years | today |
Kristoffer Gudmund NIELSEN 39 years | today |
Bas VAN BELLE 24 years | today |
Bailey MCKNIGHT 34 years | today |
Xavier BRUN 40 years | today |
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