Tour of Britain – Stage 8 – Rubens Bertogliati – We did not achieved the main goal of winning at least one stage –

The Tour of Britain ended with an air of déjà vu. In this final stage, akin to a criterium through the historic streets of central London, André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) made it a point of honor to test his speed against Elia Viviani (Sky) and Juan José Lobato (Movistar ). Unfortunately for the German sprinter, his attempt to get his gap cost him the victory bouquet in the end.  The panel of judges responsible for acting as the jury, gave the victory to the second placed rider behind him since they deemed that he had hindered Viviani’s progress.  In any case, Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN Qhubeka) was not hindered from enjoying his overall victory while he was also awarded fourth in the sprint. IAM Cycling did their best to thwart the favorites in the sprint, but their efforts came up short.  Sondre Holst Enger took a strong 6th place while Jonas Van Genechten was 11th.

Both sprinters for the Swiss professional team came up short because they did not succeed in holding their positions while coming into the final corners of the stage, made difficult by the narrowness of the roads.  At the time of explanation, Sondre Holst Enger regretted his lack of bravado in the final straight.  “The final day was difficult and we rode à bloc throughout the stage.  It was beautiful nonetheless to race in this environment, and I received a lot of help from my teammates.  I was well placed at the beginning of the last kilometer but then I lost a few places.  It was therefore impossible to play for the win.”

Rubens Bertogliati, at the race as a directeur sportif alongside Kjell Carlström for Tour of Britain, was of two minds when discussing the race.  “We did not achieve the main goal of winning at least at one stage, and above all the disappointment is that we did not place anyone in the top-10 overall.  Honestly, I would have put money on the team having a better place on the final classification.  But we missed something in the key stages and lost some stupid time along the way; time we were not able to make up by riding well in the queen stage with that one difficult final climb.  By contrast, the sprinters were able to show themselves well.  Sondre Holst Enger and, to a lesser extent, Jonas Van Genechten fulfilled their contracts managing to get a podium place on a stage, and to win places in the top-10 on other stages.”