19 September 2021

Bram Welten : "It opens too late in front of me...”

4th of the Grand Prix of Isbergues, Bram Welten could have hoped for better. Explanations…

On the line

“The race was very nervous, the course in Isbergues is not very difficult and the weather was good. The sprint was announced, and it was the strategic choice we made. The team did a great job, Lukasz rode in the lead all day. Matîs and Amaury put me on the wheel of Démare with 300 metres to go, but it’s a pity because Groupama-FDJ took a long time to start their sprint. A wave with Cofidis and Viviani and they come up on the left side of the road and pass us. I don’t have any room to sprint until the last fifty meters, and then I have the opening. I arrive with a lot of speed, but too late…”.

Yvon Caër, Sport-Director

The debrief

                            

“The sprint can leave us with regrets because there was a way to win. Fourth place is still a good result, but it is disappointing in terms of the result obtained, considering the sprint of Bram and the Arkéa-Samsic team. The attitude of the riders was exemplary, we made a strategic choice for the sprint because we did not have the same train as our opponents. We decided to follow the train of the Alpecin or Groupama-FDJ, Bram around 900 meters. At the 300 metres mark, he is in the wheel of Démare but Guarnieri doesn’t engage. We are where we need to be when we need to be but we were dependent on the work of the other teams…”.

Riders