Ian Stannard (Team Sky) made history with his ride to third place at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, but he still couldn’t escape the disappointment of coming so close to victory in the race he has dreamed of since childhood.
The 28-year-old, beaten by Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) and Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) in the select group sprint, equaled the best-ever performance by a British rider at the Hell of the North, following in the footsteps of Barry Hoban in 1972 and Roger Hammond in 2004. He also equalled Team Sky's best-ever finish at the race, following on from Juan Antonio Flecha in the team's debut season six years ago.
“I’m pleased to finish on the podium, but it’s so close yet so far I guess,” said Stannard, who pondered how things might have played out had he saved his legs for a sprint rather than attacking in the final stages.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Everyone was getting stuck in – certainly myself, I didn’t want to come into a sprint with [Tom] Boonen and Edvald [Boasson Hagen]. In hindsight it might have been better to save my legs, and it might have been a different result…”
Stannard said earlier in the week that a wet race would suit him well, and some of the pavé sectors were still damp from the overnight rain. Stannard also likes a hard race, and he certainly got it as a crash on sector 21 triggered decisive splits in the bunch with 115km still to race.
With Etixx-QuickStep having pushed on, for a while reducing the front group to five, Sky had four men in the lead while favourites were caught out behind, and they looked in a commanding position as they took it up on sector 11.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1WmCgE6
No comments:
Post a Comment