Tour of Guangxi (Stage 4) - Louis Barré 4th in the provisional general classification
9th in Jongla, Louis Barré is now the best young rider and 4th in the provisional overall classification of the Tour of Guangxi. Team Arkéa-Samsic is 5th in the team classification.
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On the line
“It was a quiet day until the foot of the Jongla climb, which was the main difficulty of the day. The whole team did a superb job for Cristián, Alessandro Verre and myself. It was a dry climb to the top. I had a good feeling. I was in the middle of the pack on the climb, and on a small flat section, I made a bit of an effort to get back into the pack, which cost me a bit in the finish when I had to sprint. I’m 4th in the provisional overall classification, a place I’ll have to defend or try to improve on over the next few days. It’s the first time I’ve been in such a position in a professional stage race, and what’s more in a UCI WorldTour event, so we’ll have to see what happens in the stages to come. The white jersey of best young rider was also a great reward at the finish in Jongla.
The debrief’
“It was a finish at the top of Jongla. Our aim was to put our puncheurs-grimpeurs in the best possible position at the foot of this difficulty. The job was done perfectly. The Arkéa-Samsic team was homogeneous at the foot. The positioning was ideal, Alan Riou, Donavan Grondin and David Dekker fulfilled their mission perfectly before the peloton turned left, and then Amaury Capiot did his part, which was to continue to reel them in. The climb to Jongla was very fast, more for the puncheurs than the pure climbers. Louis had a great climb, finishing 9th in the stage, 4th in the provisional overall classification and best young rider. The bonus second he got on the first day puts him ahead of the group he’s in. Now we’re going to make sure we hold on to this position overall, and even improve on it if possible. Our second objective is to do everything we can to win a stage in this Tour of Guangxi”.