Tour of Britain, Dan McLay's comeback
Injured on the Tour de France, on the occasion of the 3rd stage, Dan McLay makes his return to competition on the occasion of the Tour of Britain.
On the line
“I had some problems with my injured ankle on stage 3 of the Tour de France and it took me a few weeks of recovery before the injury was resolved. I’m looking forward to racing again, especially at the Tour of Britain, and it’s always nice to race in front of your home crowd. I have only been able to start training properly again in the last two weeks. So I am going to race this Tour of Britain with two objectives: one is to help the team to achieve good performances on this event, and on a personal level, I hope that my condition will improve day after day in order to be able to face the races at the end of the season and Paris-Roubaix, which is a race that is very important for me”.
“The Tour of Britain is my national Tour, so of course I am extremely motivated to race it, I have already raced it three times, I know what a race it is. It’s not like other European races because here in Britain the roads are very wide and it will be hard on the pedals every day. The course proposed for this 2021 edition will be hilly every day, it is aimed at puncheurs with small steep bumps. So we’ll have some tough days in the saddle. The fans will normally be at the side of the road, and it will be a special atmosphere for Team Arkéa-Samsic, Dan and I who are British. I’m super excited to be back with the British cycling public at a big and beautiful event like the Tour of Britain. He will be a strong all-rounder in this event, and with a profile that goes through the difficulties well as there are very few stages dedicated to sprinters this year. I am also looking forward to the team time trial as it will be the first one of my career that I will race with the Arkéa-Samsic team, I am excited to race it with my team-mates but most of all I am excited to race my Tour National.
The briefing
“The Tour of Britain goes all the way to the north of Great Britain, in Scotland to Edinburgh which is a very hilly area. The first two days of the race are also hilly with 3,000 metres of climbing, then a team time trial, and the next day is hilly again. It won’t be easy every day, and the field of riders and teams involved is of World-Tour level, with the presence of 2021 World Champion Julian Alaphilippe, among others, who will be preparing for the next Worlds. Our main card in this event will be Connor, we hope to achieve a good overall classification with him, and Bram can aim for stages for Dan McLay as it will be his comeback race after his big crash on stage 3 of the Tour de France.