Critérium du Dauphiné – Sébastien Reichenbach «I didn’t have great legs»

The Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ended with a good deal of drama today. In Courchevel, Mikel Nieve (Sky) took the win after an eventful stage.  Less than 24 hours after having taken the yellow jersey, Alberto Contador was dispossessed by Andrew Talansky (Garmin Sharp) who was the engine of an audacious breakaway that caught both Contador and Froome off guard.  Froome, recently accused of potential doping at the Tour of Romandie, was not even able to keep pace with his great Spanish rival, and plummeted to 12^th place overall.  The day did not fare much better for Sébastien Reichenbach.  Following his heroic efforts on the climb to Finhaut, Reichenbach finished only 22^nd on the stage 5’05”, and fell to 14^th place overall.

Sébastien Reichenbach admitted to being very disappointed when all was said and done.

“I have to be disappointed because otherwise I will never succeed in winning something big.  And in cycling, we cannot have a day where you can’t cope. Today, I was unable to join the group of 23 riders who attacked on the côte de Domancy, and the favorites just looked back.  I did not have great legs today, probably because of the efforts I have made all week.  But this will also help me learn and progress.”

Eddy Seigneur, the directeur sportif along with Bertogliati, agreed with this assessment.

“Today’s stage looked like a construction site.  There were riders all over the road from the start.  Unfortunately, Sébastien was not able to join the good breakaway group.  But it was not from lack of trying since he made at least 4 attempts to bridge.  It would be wrong to overdramatize this event.  He missed that something extra and he will learn many lessons from this day.  Don’t forget that he is still very young and there is great room for improvement.”