Vuelta (Stage 17), Elie Gesbert 9th at the Monasterio de Tentudia
Escaped together with Simon Guglielmi during most of the 17th stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a España, Elie Gesbert took 9th place at the finish in Extramadura.
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On the line
“I put a lot of energy in the breakaway, in fact it was a big battle before the right move was made, and this is maybe what cost me in energy at the end of the stage. I also thought that the profile of the last climb was a bit less rolling than it turned out to be. I also probably anticipated a bit too much, I thought that it was a much more demanding climb than that, and having an advantage could have been good. But it was much too rolling and at the beginning of the last four kilometres I was empty”.
“We wanted to be in front and we were there. The breakaway was hard to catch and we left a lot of strength to be part of it. I was a little bit close in the final, so I made the choice to take a last stint in favour of Elie so that we could come back on him. I finished as well as I could afterwards. It didn’t work out today, but we will try again. It was nice to be in front on a UCI WorldTour with Elie, I just needed to feel better”.
The debrief’
“Once again our riders showed determination. It took a lot of determination to catch the right move, because it took a long time before the peloton let go. Elie and Simon managed to be in front. Clément tried to join them in a counter-attack, but the peloton came back on his group. The breakaway in which Elie and Simon found themselves was still strong with experienced riders, but they tried. You can’t blame them for that. Simon helped Elie in the final, who tried to come back to Craddock with other riders, but there were not enough of them on this very rolling climb to accompany this group that was in the fight for the victory until the end”.