Ronde Van Drenthe, Hugo Hofstetter 3rd
Hugo Hofstetter signs the 24th podium of the Arkéa-Samsic team since the beginning of the season on the Ronde Van Drenthe. Kévin Vauquelin finishes in 7th place.
Photo Getty Images
On the line
“As I was the fastest of the group that managed to get away in the final, everyone calculated their finish on mine as I was the fastest of the group. I had the sign, I had to make all the efforts, to fill all the gaps. It’s a shame, but that’s sport. When we found ourselves with six riders in front, I was in the right group, but Jumbo-Visma was outnumbered with two riders represented. I knew they would take turns attacking, which they did. I went once, twice, and when I saw Dries countering I couldn’t make the effort. It was really difficult to control everything actually…”
The debrief
“A race of movement, fast this Ronde Van Drenthe because it took off with 70 km to go! A group breaks away, we have seven riders in it, then it splits in two, and again in two with Kévin Vauquelin, Hugo Hofstetter and Benjamin Declercq in the front this time in this group of 14. With three kilometres to go, Van Gestel comes out and wins. Hugo comes in for the 2nd place, he finishes 3rd. Kévin finishes 7th. Hugo was the fastest rider of the group of six that came out in the final, but being the fastest, he was inevitably marked. The others raced against him but that’s part of the game. In any case, we showed a good collective strength on this Ronde Van Drenthe”.