Kévin Ledanois: "The last one in the crosswind..."
Finished at the top of El Castillo, the first stage of the Tour de Burgos saw Miguel Florez and Kévin Ledanois finish respectively seventh and tenth.
On the line
“This first stage of the Vuelta de Burgos was fast and windy and a group of ten riders escaped, but in the end the whole peloton came back in the final. I felt I had good legs on the first climb of the Castillo and on the last lap to the finish I tried to get a good position. I had a good feeling and I tried, and I did the best I could and took this seventh place”.
“I had the legs to do better, but the day was fast and windy. Only the first 30km of the stage with a headwind were “calm”, after that it was “spinning” throughout the stage. I have a bit of experience of the edges, and once again I didn’t get trapped. I found myself in front, a little bit in extremis, but I manage to get in at the end. I was the last one to do it, but I was in front with Thomas and Lukasz, and then it was fast all day. I was afraid that I had missed the right move when it came out with Trentin, Oss, but in the end there was always tempo behind and the gap was never made. I had to make the effort alone in the final, I found myself quite far behind in 25th position when Bardet attacked at the foot, I made the effort alone. I am satisfied because when I say that I want to make a result, I answer present even if it is only a place of ten. I have become more mature, I know when I can be there and when I can’t, and today I can do better, but that’s it…”.
The debrief
“It was a day of crosswind, we had, in the end, six riders in the first one. The riders respected the instructions given perfectly. The finish was at the top of the Castillo, a bump of 8%. Miguel was 7th and Kevin was 10th. The riders placed well in the wind, they did their job and that’s important. We will now see how the race goes, and we still had five riders placed at the foot of the last climb, after if we had a little lack of automatisms in the end, that it’s a matter of legwork on such a finish”.