Rui Costa is the new world champion. The Portugese was stronger than Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde in Florence after 272 kilometers. Zdenek rode a strong race and finished 26th. “Wow, what a difficult and hard race.”
“It rained from start to finish”, said Zdenek afterwards. “With only 80 kilometer to go, the peloton was still 20 man big. The rest of the pack was lying on the smooth asphalt. I thought we would finish with a limited group, but eventually it was not so bad.”
A large group of riders was able to get back to the peloton. “I felt stronger round after round. However I thought the race was going to be a little too long. I decided to wait until the last lap, but on the climb when the climbers attacked, I had to let go.”
The better climbers managed to separate from the rest and fought for the rainbow jersey. Rui Costa was the strongest. “No surprise. He rode all season very good. But anyone who had won, would deserved it, though. It was a very hard race today.”
What about the rest of the season, Zdenek? “Next week I will ride the Tour of Lombardia, after which I leave to China for the Tour of Beijing. Tony Martin already twice the overall classification and so we go this year for three. I’m pretty tired, but there is still something in my legs.”