17 August 2021

Warren Barguil: "The bike I love”

16th in Sainte-Feyre, Warren Barguil was very active during this first stage of the Tour du Limousin – Périgord – Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

“I am participating for the first time in my career in the Tour du Limousin, an atypical race because there is not necessarily a very steep finish, but nevertheless every day it is difficult! The proposed courses are tiring. I enjoyed myself today on my bike, I practiced the cycling I like by being offensive. I attacked without holding back and that makes me feel good. I know that coming here is a form of investment for the rest of the season. I have ambitions for this Tour du Limousin because I am a competitor, but considering the difficulty of the race and the course of this first stage, I prefer to remain cautious about the overall classification of this race”.

“What a stage! It can be divided into two parts, the first one was controlled at the beginning by the peloton behind the breakaway, and then the Ken Pharma team set the peloton on fire with sixty kilometres to go, which contributed to put the peloton in single file. That hurt a lot of riders. We were well represented in the peloton with Warren, Maxime, Romain, Winner and myself. Winner unfortunately fell, but not seriously. Everyone did their job. All the team were trying to go in the breakaway. I thought I would do better in the sprint, but when I got up to go I couldn’t. It’s a postponement for tomorrow, because the finish is hard, and we are all placed in the general classification. I am happy with my feeling, but I thought I could do better in the sprint
Yvon Ledanois, Sport-Director

The debrief

“We have made a good start in this Tour du Limousin – Périgord – Nouvelle Aquitaine because we are still in ambush for the general classification of this race which remains an important objective for the Arkéa-Samsic team. Our team was able to control the breakaways. Warren showed himself to be both opportunist and offensive, it was a very close race, if a rider from Groupama-FDJ is in front of him when the group of nine leaves, it can change the face of this first stage. But that’s not the point. Warren was also well supported by all his team-mates and it is the kind of race where it is important to have a strong team around the leader. I am confident for the next stages, especially the ones that will be uphill, even if we know that the level is very tight between the teams on this Tour du Limousin”.

 

 

Riders