Vuelta (Stage 6), Élie Gesbert: "I wanted to see what it was like"

“The initial plan was to be part of the day’s breakaway, but none of the riders who were in it can play the win in the end. The peloton never gave them much time. So it was a blessing in disguise not to be part of it. I wanted to hang on in the Pico Jano to see what could happen. I “pulled myself up” until the end on this climb. At some point, I saw that the peloton was stalling, so I preferred to anticipate the attack of the leaders. I did well because afterwards I saw that behind the leaders it was exploding on all sides, whereas this allowed me to avoid their big acceleration and to make my own climb, at my own rythm, by smoothing my effort”.