Last week, Christophe Riblon (AG2R) finished on the podium of the Tour of Poland after an impressive performance in the World Tour race. However, the memories of the Tour are bittersweet for Riblon as he slipped from first to third overall during the final stage time trial.

Reflecting on the race at a few days’ distance, Riblon is not fully pleased with this performance and he feels as if he had failed on something. 

“For me, my final result is mixed and I can’t be totally satisfied with this 3rd place,” Riblon reflected. “I know that I had the level to win and I’m obviously disappointed and frustrated. I did what I had to do before the last stage by taking an advantage of some seconds on my competitors. I was pretty confident before the individual time-trial even if I knew that the victory was not sure. All in all, I feel as if I failed in the time trial and not having done what I am able to do. I had good feelings on the first part but I felt I was going down throughout the second part. I also had a problem with the headset and I rode around 30 kilometres without any information about the gap as a benchmark.”

Riblon said he would happily have settled for a place on the podium prior to the beginning of the race, but obviously felt that the overall victory had slipped through his fingers.

“I would have signed for this 3rd place before to take the start if I knew that it was the best performance I could obtain but this week I was really in a good position to win, it’s frustrating! I particularly regret my result in the time trial because the gap to the victory is very small. Just after I crossed the finish line of the last stage, I thought that I was one minute behind the winner but when I saw that I was only 16’’ behind the leader, the disappointment was even greater. I have enough experience in cycling to know that you have to seize the opportunities when they arise. I’m not sure that such a chance to win a stages race on the World Tour Circuit will happen again!”

Riblon will target the Grand Prix-races of Ouest-France, Québec and Montréal, hoping that solid performances in these races will earn him a spot on the French national for the World Championships in Florence, Italy, in September.

“Now, my next goals are in particular the Grand Prix Ouest-France and the Grand Prix of Québec and Montréal. I also hope to be selected to compete in the World Championships. I’m extremely motivated and it is an important event for me. The best riders were not all present in Poland but I showed that I was able to compete with great riders and even finish ahead of them. If I can maintain my current good shape to the World Championships I think I can do a good result there.”