Giro d'Italia (Stage 2) - David Dekker finishes 2nd
David Dekker took 2nd place in the sprint in San Salvo at the end of the 2nd stage of the Giro d’Italia, after a great collective work of all his team-mates.
Photo Arkéa-Samsic/ Aubin Lipke
On the line
“2nd is not bad. The last kilometre of the race was very “electric”. But Clément Russo did everything perfectly. I think that with a bit more punch, I could have done better. That’s what I think is missing. All my team-mates did a great job in my favour in the final of this first stage which could have ended in a sprint. Even Warren put himself at my service, “ate” a lot of wind to protect me. It’s nice to see a leader doing such a good job. Thibault, Alan and Maxime were superb. It’s good to start the Giro d’Italia like this, it gives us a lot of confidence. I haven’t been able to sprint much since the beginning of the season, I’ve had some bad luck. To be able to do it at the beginning of a Grand Tour like the Giro is also very personal”.
“The whole team rode well. We took the lead quite early, with Warren, Maxime, Alan and Thibault doing a great job. The crash in the final led to a little bit of a mix-up, we were a bit embarrassed with David, but I told him not to panic, not to stress that we were going to come back. And we did it with Thibault. I was able to put him back. We communicated well with David and I, he had lost my wheel at the kilometre, and shouted at me to wait for him. What I did, allowed me to reel him in, and in the end, he finished second. It’s not a success, and of course that’s always the goal. But we can be happy with this second place. It’s our first Giro, the second stage we’ve ridden, and we finish in second place, which is great. And I am sure that David can win a stage in this race. It’s motivating and we’re going to do everything we can to achieve it”.
The debrief
“This second place for David is a real satisfaction, even if it is difficult to be satisfied with such a performance when you are a competitor. The winner was in any case the strongest. But I am happy for David, for the whole Arkéa-Samsic team present at the Giro d’Italia. Everyone did a great job, and from the second stage onwards. We showed and set up a dynamic, the cohesion within the team was perfect. We tried to get the best climber jersey with Alessandro, unfortunately it did not work. Our will on this Giro is to be offensive, we want to show ourselves. Then the whole group wanted to put David in the best conditions so that he could do the best sprint possible. He finished second, which is a very good result for a young rider in a Grand Tour”.