Antón downbeat
Igor Antón's Vuelta-ambitions took a major hit today and he knows it. Speaking to the team's website post-stage he was everything but happy. "My legs were everything but great and I've yielded vital time", he stated. "Sure, I won't rule anything out just yet, but to lose a minute and a half here is a lot. It's a lot of time lost, I'm aware of that. The Vuelta has only just begun though, so I'll try not to think about it anymore. We have to stay calm. There's a lot of racing left to do and we shouldn't jump to any conclusions." He went on to admit that he didn't feel good yesterday either (as has been mentioned by some readers), but that he just managed to hang in there in contrast to today. Though naturally disappointed with his own performance, he was quick to praise the team's effort. "My team-mates did a great job and it's thanks to them that I didn't lose more time than I did. Verdugo helped me out a lot and had a great ride."
Mikel Nieve had every reason not to feel downbeat as he impressed by staying with the main favourites all the way to the top: "I felt good on the climb to Sierra Nevada and came through a tough day with all options intact. But the heat is doing a lot of damage. When Nibali went I got across to him straight away, but I noticed the others were going well too so I didn't try to get clear. I just tried to stay with the strongest riders, something which is never easy. Tomorrow we're headed for Valdepeñas, more heat... This is going to be a very tiring Vuelta".
3 comments:
Very strange. Igor is a fantastic climber, in his best days maybe the best in the world and when he is good he is really good, last year in the vuelta and this year the first two weeks in the giro italia. But he's a bit like Mayo, sometimes he's just really bad, like the last week in the giro, tour de france 2007 and 2009 and also today. I hope he gets better in time!
Absolutely, he's similar to Mayo in that respect. And so too is Intxausti who seems to go in and out of form just like that.
Yes, but Intxausti really had a tough time this year, he fell a lot and there was the tragic death of Tondo, he died in his arms. On Belgian TV was told that Anton said in an interview he has this bad feeling in his legs allready a long time, even in the giro... Today was not better.
Post a Comment