Planet taking the positives from brutal fourth stage in Oman

Charles Planet:

“It was a real battle today. Right from the flag drop we were fighting and lots of riders got shelled on the first climb. Everything split, at one point there were groups all over the place when DSM attacked, but to be honest I felt really good. It was super-hot again, over 30 degrees and I managed to stay at the front for the most part.”

“I knew it was going to be hard today, it was a climbing stage, and you could feel it yesterday that the big teams were already looking to race aggressively and split things up. It’s been eight months without racing for me and I’m really proud of what I did today I managed to keep a good pace, solid numbers in hard conditions and I can take a lot of motivation from today.”

Sport Director Gennady Mikhaylov:

“Today ended up being a lot harder than we expected. The race exploded from the start. We were straight into an uphill section and the teams at the front just lit it up, splitting the race into different groups. Charles and Umberto managed to stay up there in the main bunch behind the breakaway until the second climb and after that it was about keeping a good pace and conserving as much energy as possible.”

“It’s good to see Charles coming back day by day, he’s getting stronger and you can see that from today’s results. We’ll see how we recover for tomorrow, but it’s going to be another very tough day and if it is raced as aggressively as today, then we are in for a long day.”