Giro Tappa 4 – Matthias Brändle -I will have more chances to try to show what I can do –

THE QUOTE

“I’ll get another chance to try to show what I can do,” Matthias Brändle predicted when he arrived at the end of the stage at the team bus. “I am satisfied with how I feel, but the heat and the general topography of the stage were not to my advantage.”

THE EXPLANATION

Brändle, the former holder of the world hour record, did manage to bridge a gap of one minute to an established breakaway of three riders early in the stage. “The legs were good, and I put in a little alone time before making the connection to the front three. We got along well together. Unfortunately, and oddly, the Nippo-Fantini team chased us hard from behind for a long time. The gap was cut to below 45 seconds in spite of all our best efforts. Then the peloton just controlled us, giving us a little more than four minutes of rope before pulling us back shortly before the first real climb of the 2016 Giro.”

THE ESCAPE

Matthias Brändle, along with Boem, Mohoric and Rosskopf, was at the head of the stage for over 130 kilometers.

THE FACT OF THE DAY

Though Diego Ulissi (Lampre) claimed his fifth stage victory at the Giro in his career, Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) even more impressively managed to finish 2nd place on the stage, and as a result retook the pink jersey from Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quickstep).

THE STATEMENT

Heinrich Haussler, at the end of the third stage, admitted that after reading the race guide for the stage, he had ideas of his own. “I was not as good as I had been in the two stages in the Netherlands. With the heat and the accelerations required for the climbs, I quickly realized this was not going to be my day.”

THE ANALYSIS

Kjell Carlström, one of the directeur sportifs for the Swiss professional team along with Mario Chiesa, praised Matthias Brändle when faced with assessing the day’s events. “Matthias worked well with his breakaway companions, but the Nippo-Fantini team sounded the charge from the pack for some reason. In any case, there are no regrets. The stage was much harder than predicted, especially the final. The climbs were followed by aggressive descents to the finish. There was not a flat meter. And as we often say, tomorrow is another day.”

Race Pictures – BettiniPhoto2016