Welcome back to the racing season. How did you like the return of the World Tour?
You asked the wrong question. Maybe at this point I wish I was locked up for three months. (Laughs)
Obviously it hurt a lot.
Yeah. The worst was the heat. From the beginning, it was very nervous and very fast, but the heat was terribly tiring. I poured about ten bottles. It was a really big extreme today.
You have never experienced a heat of 38 degrees during the traditional March term on Strade Bianche. Is that also why this time you experienced a completely different Strade than you were used to?
Oh yes. In addition, it was the first race after such a long break. When we rode Strade in March, we used to be a bit of a race and ready for spring classics. But today? A really special race – and a huge shock to the body.
You can appreciate all the more that even in such conditions you extended the series and finished Strade Bianche in the Top 10 for the sixth time in a row. So is it “your” race?
It looks like that, even though at times I thought at times that I wouldn’t do very well. During the race, I dropped out at times, rode on the edge and could not get up to speed. It wasn’t until the last 50 kilometers that I finally drove off, jumping from one group to another and finally pedaling alone, because everyone who rode with me gradually fell away.
So you proved that it works even after a long race break?
Well, I was rather thinking: I have to keep going anyway, because once I slow down, I won’t reach the finish line.
1. august 2020 at 18:19, post archived: 1. august 2020 at 21:38
–
–
About 60 kilometers before the finish, you seemed to be working for title defender Julian Alaphilipp, your teammate. Was it that after the crisis, you did it yourself?
Not exactly. But Julian had a technical defect six times today, stabbed four times and changed the wheel twice. At one point, as he followed me after a defect with a small loss, he told me on the radio to wait for him. So I waited and we returned to the main field together. But I rummaged a bit and then fell off before the Santa Maria section. I pulled back again, but it cost me a lot of energy.
Which ones were missing when a strong group of six left for Santa Maria without you?
Probably. I missed the feeling “I can go over the limit” today. Maybe because of how long I didn’t race. I arrived in Strada from an alpine camp, where we rode hour-long hills. But the positive thing for me is that I was then able to drive the last 50 kilometers at a high pace.
Six times in the Top 10Zdeněk Štybar on Strada Bianche 2015 1st place – |
When the six leaked, you exchanged a few words with Mathieu van der Poel. Did you persuade him to try the chase together?
Yeah, I said, Come on, we’re going after them. I knew they were going down the road in those places where the group in front of us wouldn’t have to work together. I didn’t have anyone else from the team with me anymore and I needed help with someone. But I immediately read from Mathieu’s facial expression that there would be nothing with him this time.
So later you chased the top six in a three-member formation with Bookwalter of Mitchelton and Gogl of NTT, you reduced the loss from two minutes to 50 seconds, but it didn’t work anymore. Also because you almost always dragged the pace of the group alone?
At one point we even saw the ones in front of us, so I tried to motivate Bookwalter and Gogl to work together, but most of the time I really pulled us alone. And as soon as the boys started joining in the front group and I didn’t have any support, I knew it was impossible to get ahead.
–
1. august 2020 at 20:31, paper archived: 1. august 2020 at 21:40
–
–
Was it at least a little pleasant when you caught up with Greg Van Avermaet, with whom you had fought so many classic battles in the past and who this time dropped out of the top six?
I also yelled at Greg to go together and spin for a while. Greg replied, “But I’ll fall off the next hill. He was already done. So I said to him: Sorry, I’m going alone, because as soon as I waited, I would stop completely.
Cycling is back. Strade Bianche won Van Aert, Stybar finished sixth |
What happens now that you shake off Strade Bianche?
To be honest, I don’t know at all. Organizers Milan – San Remo (classic monument next weekend) at the last minute they announced that they had reduced the numbers from seven competitors per team to six. I don’t know if our team will put me in that narrow selection. For now, I stay in Italy, but I will fly to the Czech Republic or Mallorca. The team will probably decide on Sunday night. It’s an awkward situation, but I don’t want to worry too much about it. I take this special season from day to day.
Various improvisations and changes in nominations just before the race will probably accompany this whole season, right?
Exactly. We must accept such a situation. It will be difficult for everyone. Just by reducing the number of riders in the line-up to six by Milan-San Remo did he overwhelm the whole infrastructure for many teams. Therefore, someone will ride other races, the wheels have to be moved. Maybe we will commute one team car with wheels and material from the race Around Burgos to San Remo, Poland and Dauphiné.
You are still in the wider fourteen-member selection of Quick-Step for the Tour.
And I told the team I’d like to ride it. It doesn’t look like yet. But as I said, everything can change from day to day.
–
