Today was the thirteenth stage in the Tour of Spain. And that stage went from Valls to Castelldefels over two tough climbs. “Perhaps the most difficult stage we had so far. Especially the start was very hectic.”
When the riders took off several riders went to the ground. “Leader Vincenzo Nibali decided to wait for those guys. Very sympathetic. Then there was a new start and the war began. It took up to kilometer 70 before there was some peace again in the peloton.”
“Then there was a climb of first category. A steep thing. I started well in front, but could not follow the group and got a little behind. Luckily everything came back together in the descent. Gianni Meersman was our leader for today, but he was too tired to go for it.”
The team decided to ride for Zdenek. “But the leaders had a pretty big lead at that moment. Tony Martin, Serge Pauwels and Kristof Vandewalle started to ride very hard to get everything back together. But with eight kilometers to go it went wrong.”
“Under a bridge Kristof and I fell and it was over. We drove into a wall. We’re lucky that nothing serious happened. Nothing to do about it. The stage of tomorrow is 155 kilometers long, but with an altitude of 4.320 meters…”, says our champion.