Tour of Alberta overall winner Robin Carpenter had a lot to worry about during Monday's final stage in Edmonton.
The 24-year-old Holowesko-Citadel rider went into the final day's circuit race with Tour de France podium contender and Classica San Sebastian winner Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) trailing him by just one second.
Mollema had 2012 Giro d'Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal in his corner, along with Frank Schleck and a strong, experienced team, but Carpenter said one of his biggest worries was simply to avoid disappointing his own Continental squad, which he said went into the stage with more confidence in him than he had in himself.
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"It was funny," Carpenter told Cyclingnews after the final stage in Edmonton. "Most of the pressure I think was heaped on by myself. The team believed in me, so there was not a ton of pressure in the usual sense. Mostly it was pressure in that they believed in me more than I did, and I was like, ‘Man, you shouldn't be so confident.'"
But at the end of the day, Carpenter expertly relied on his team to keep him safe throughout the day and fresh for the end of the race when he needed to take his fate into his own hands.
"I think I dealt with it alright," he said. "I tried to stay cool and not panic, trusting the team and trusting the riders to come back to you if you got broken up when there are accelerations. They did believe in me more than I believed in myself, and that's a good lesson to take away."
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