On Bastille Day, Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) continued to show his consistency and strength at the Tour de France with a top-10 finish on stage 10’s decisive climb to La Pierre-Saint-Martin, and moved himself further up the ranks as the top French rider in the overall classification.
“With the team we agreed that I would see how far I got on the last climb," Gallopin said. "Tim [Wellens] and Adam [Hansen] could join a big group that had a chance to stay ahead. The first goal was to win the intermediate sprint with André [Greipel], which we did, and then it was the teams of the GC riders who set a high pace on the way to the climb. I was amazed I could hang on and even when big names got dropped I could stay in the yellow jersey group. The steady pace of Sky was perfect for me. It was only when they raised the tempo and ten riders were left that I was distanced."
The first nine days of the Tour de France ended with a much needed rest day on Monday, before the peloton embarked on the first day in the Pyrenees, and the first mountaintop finish. The rolling stage 10, held under warm temperatures, finished with a 15km Hors Category climb to La Pierre-Saint-Martin, which held an average gradient of 7.4 per cent.
ADVERTISEMENT
By the time Gallopin reached the finish line in ninth place, beside compatriot Pierre Rolland (Europcar) in eighth, he had lost 2:22 minutes to stage winner and overall leader Chris Froome (Team Sky), but he moved up five spots in the GC to seventh place at 4:33 back.
“Of course I’m happy with the ninth place today and the seventh place overall," Gallopin said. "The legs felt very good, even when the group was already considerably reduced. On the one hand this place on GC is very nice, on the other hand I might get less space to aim for a stage win. But we’ll look at that again with the team and we’ll discuss what the next days will bring.”
Gallopin’s performance on the climb was strong but it wasn’t too surprising, as he has already shown consistency through out the Tour de France with four top 10s during the opening week including fifth places on the Mur de Huy (stage 5) and the Mur de Bretagne (stage 8).
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1DfUCdD
No comments:
Post a Comment