Connor Swift: "It's beautiful”
Connor Swift, one week after Warren Barguil in the Limousin, won his second stage race: the Tour du Poitou-Charentes. It was the 8th victory of the season for the Arkéa-Samsic team.
On the line
“My team-mates did an excellent job for me during the last stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, they were simply extraordinary. They gave everything for me. I keep the jersey, we win this race for Arkéa-Samsic. This year, I feel that I am making progress.
At the beginning of the season I won the Tro Bro Léon, and now the Tour du Poitou-Charentes in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. This is my first victory in the general classification of a professional stage race. It’s simply magnificent. It’s also a great victory for the Arkéa-Samsic team, the second in a week on the French calendar. I also have a thought for my team-mates Thibault and Thomas who crashed. I never panicked throughout the day because I knew I could count on the guys. We always rode at the front of the pack, and fortunately I got through the crashes. The Arkéa-Samsic team is currently in a good dynamic and this opens up good prospects for the next few races”.
“It was a bit of a stressful day because defending a jersey is never easy. We knew that we were going to be attacked because the scenario usually on a last stage a lot of riders have ideas of attacking either to win the stage or to try to reverse the general classification. We had a hard time during the first forty-five kilometres. They were beautiful roads, then after an hour, a group broke away. Alan and Donvan set up at the front of the peloton to set the tempo with Bingoal. They were good allies until the final circuit, where the tension increased. Unfortunately, Thibault and Thomas crashed with one lap to go. It spoils the taste of success when you lose two team-mates like that. For me, I didn’t want to give up because there was still a gap to close. I had to ride to close the gap. And that’s what I did. I parked at the foot of the last climb and I knew that with thirty seconds of delay at the bottom of the climb, and Anthony still in the peloton to accompany Connor, it was a win for him and us”.
The debrief
“We had a legitimate ambition in coming to the start of this Tour du Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine with the team that we have signed up. Connor won the overall classification, he is a young rider who wins races: the Tro Bro Léon, and now here. Connor progresses year after year. There was a lot of adversity, but the team as a whole was focused and applied itself during the four days of the race. It’s a collective success, once again. We are currently on a winning streak with Warren’s success in Limousin, Matîs’ success in Castilla Leon, and now Connor. This proves the seriousness of the riders who have competed in the Tour, and those who have not. I would also like to underline the 6th place in the general classification of Anthony Delaplace which allows us to have two riders in the top 10 of this event. The bad news of the day is of course the crashes of Thibault Guernalec and Thomas Boudat. We are waiting to hear from them in order to have more information about them. Obviously losing two riders so close to the finish spoils the party a bit. It happened when they were in front, that’s part of cycling, but we could have done without it”.