Kevin Reza is mainly known for his sprinting skills but these days he is getting a lot of attention for wearing the mountains jersey in the Criterium du Dauphiné. Being no climber, however, he doesn't expect to defend the lead all the way to the end.
Kevin Reza has often mixed it up in bunch sprints and shown himself in breakaways but despite solid climbing skills, he is not exactly a climber. Nonetheless, his strength allowed him to take the lead in the mountains classification at the Criterium du Dauphiné in yesterday's second stage and today he defended his position.
His teammate Natnael Berhane made it into the early breakaway and made sure to score maximum points on both climbs while Reza himself was fourth across the line at the top of the first one. Hence, he extended his advantage over second-placed Thomas Damuseau to 11 points and heads into tomorrow's stage with a solid grip on the jersey.
However, the Dauphiné is a race for climbers and a lot of climbing is coming up in the hard weekend stages. Consequently, Reza doesn't expect to defend his position all the way to the end.
“My goaæ was to retain the polka dot jersey at least tonight," he said. "It's a pretty good news to have made it and to keep a certain advantage.
"It's not exactly a competition that suits my characteristics but we're at the Dauphiné, it's a big race so it's important to wear a distinctive jersey. We'll see how far I can go with this jersey but I don't have any long term plan for wearing it. It's just nice to have it for now.”
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