Lozano leads from the front on Stage 3 in Hungary as late crash takes down Peron & Benahmouda

Head Sports Director Massimo Podenzana:

“It’s been our intention since the first stage. To get someone up the road in the breakaway, show our jersey to the world and also ease the pressure on our guys in the bunch who are asked with looking after Andrea and Mehdi so they can try in the final sprint.”

“Today that plan worked out really nicely, it took a while for the move to go, but when it went David was at the front, attentive and he made it into the group. We knew there wasn’t much chance of the move staying away, the big sprinters teams would always want to bring things back together ahead of tomorrow’s Queen Stage.

“David worked hard, and he kept trying to drive the group on into the closing kilometers, but they were caught ten kilometers from the finish, then first Mehdi went down and then Andrea in the final kilometer. That finished our chances for the sprint. Thankfully they are both ok. Andrea finished, but Mehdi had to be taken for a check-up, so won’t start tomorrow.”

David Lozano:

“Man, we have been trying every day to get into the breakaway and despite our efforts it didn’t happen, so I am really happy that we made it today. It was hard, but the stage was relatively short, and I felt good out there.”

“At first there were only three of us out there, we attacked on a short rise after the first climb and then two more guys came across. As a quintet we worked well together, I tried to go for some KOM points and managed to pick up a couple, but the other guy had a better sprint than me. Still, it was great to get out front again, it’s been a while for me, and I enjoyed it.”