Tinkoff-Saxo’s race captain Roman Kreuziger proved that he has maintained his shape after heavy racing in July, as he scaled the final, steep climb with the favorites and finished in the first group behind the winner of Clásica San Sebastián Adam Yates.

Roman Kreuziger went over the final climb of Bordako Tontorra together with a select group of favorites before a tactical deadlock meant that the group merged with the reminder of the main bunch going into the finishing straight. In the sprint for 2nd place, Kreuziger finished 13th, which does not bear witness to his strength on the day, asserts Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Patxi Vila.

“Roman went over the top of the final very steep climb together with the favorites such as Valverde and Rodriguez and tried to bridge over to Yates together with Uran on the final kilometers. Unfortunately the group couldn’t agree and his group of a few riders was finally caught by the bigger group coming from behind. Then we saw a crash in the final sprint and Roman’s position was affected so he finished 13th in the end”, says Patxi Vila before adding about the effort made.

“I saw how he raced in the finale and how he did the last climb. I think he deserved something more, he was among the strongest seven riders on the final climb, but the finish line is the finish line and you can’t really argue with the final result. As a team, we worked pretty well and did a good race, where we stuck to the plan. We were aiming for a top five or podium position so we can’t be totally satisfied”.

Clásica San Sebastián 2015 consisted of 219 undulating kilometers in hilly Basque terrain. Tinkoff-Saxo had Manuele Boaro in the early breakaway but the squad found itself trailing going into the finale.

“Boaro did a really, really good job and was in the breakaway for 180 kilometers. The idea was to have a guy out front and that worked well until it was caught and another front breakaway group was formed. We didn’t have anybody in that group so we were basically in a position, where we had to send Chris Juul to the front of the bunch. He pulled hard and Roman was delivered to the bottom of the final climb in a good position. Sometimes it doesn’t play out the way you want, but I still take some very good signs home from this race”, finishes Patxi Vila.