Lobato - I'm pleased to be fighting with the best
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Juan José Lobato gave added proof of his unquestioned potential by sprinting to fifth on Thursday's sixth stage.
Only André Greipel, Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish, in that order, could best the Euskaltel fast-man - not bad going in your Tour debut and with no lead-out.
Lobato successfully jumped from wheel to wheel in the finale and launched a potent finishing-kick to grab his second top ten in two days in Montpellier.
"I actually felt better yesterday (when he was seventh), but I'm very pleased to be fighting with the best sprinters in the world", he told the team's website. "This is a race like no other. It's another world. The rhythm and tension is extreme, but I'm feeling good and motivated. That's something I want to take advantage of.
"The results of my pre-race work is paying off, and that makes me happy and want to keep working", he said.
In what was without a doubt one of the more uneventful days in recent history, all the Euskaltel riders made it safely to the line - except for one.
Ion Izagirre lost 5:18 today, but as of yet I've not succeeded in finding out what happened to him.
Results:
- (1, André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), 3:59:02)
- 5, Juan José Lobato, s.t.
- 21, Gorka Izagirre, 0:05
- 31, Igor Antón, s.t.
- 56, Mikel Nieve, s.t.
- 64, Mikel Astarloza, s.t.
- 76, Rubén Pérez, s.t.
- 93, Romain Sicard, s.t.
- 115, Juan José Oroz, s.t.
- 175, Ion Izagirre, 5:18
Photo: Le Tour
4 comments:
I noticed Ion riding over the finishing line, didn't look so good, hope he is allright. Such a shame to me he was our real GC man, in time to me he's far better then Nieve/Anton, more complete. This been said, with all those guys crashed out (VDB, Brajko, Zubeldia and others) here is a unique chance for Nieve to ride top 10. If he does not crash i surely believe in it. Lobato is a win, really superbe the way he profiles himself here. He has a future, should become a bit stronger on the climbs. Latest medical news reports of Health problems (the back) Oroz, nothing known yet about the youngest Izagirre. I thought it was Gorka who crashed pretty hard the other day, or have we been mistaken and could it be Ion.
Urtasan, Perez, and Tamouridis should lead Lobato out in the future. He has shown that he is on the brink of big wins. I just hope a team with a bigger budget doesn't sweep him up. On another note I am looking forward to Saturday. Hoping to see Nieve and Anton up with the other contenders.
Isn't it great to see an orange jersey at the end of these stages though? Two top tens far exceeds my expectations, its been great to watch. His climbing isn't too bad - KOM on day one :-) - so he may get chances in the tougher stages when some of the others get dropped. Sad to see the little brother struggling but it is his first TDF and he can only learn from this year.
Didn't he had a flat tire on a real bad moment?
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