Lozano tries again as Adriatica Ionica edges closer to the coast

It was a tough day over the rolling hills of Emilia-Romagna. Past the castles, in between the fruit orchards and grape vines came a bike race. Stage three of Adriatica-Ionica, sweltering in the heat Spanish climber David Lozano went deep again, trying to gain a gap and then chasing back on again. The yo-yo effect of an attack filled day and finishing circuits dotted with steep climbs that punished both the legs and the lungs.

David Lozano (ESP):

“I tried hard to get something going again today, there were a few early attempts to get a breakaway started but nothing stuck and at one point I had a real dig on the early climbs, found myself alone out front with a few seconds thinking…’Damn. I need some help here, there’s a long way to go and It’s all up and down, but what the hell. I’m all in.’ So, I kept pushing, but got caught a little later and then the attacks flew again.”

“Man, it was tough, but I like the heat and once I recovered after my first attack, I tried to move up again, but I found myself in between the first two groups and although the groups were small it never really came back together again. We’ve got another hard day coming up tomorrow, so we need to be ready to give it another go.”

Head sports director Massimo Podenzana:

“Both Joonas and David tried hard at the beginning to get into the moves and David especially had great legs, when he attacked, he just rode everyone off his wheel and it’s a shame that he couldn’t make anything stick at the right time.”

“It was a challenging course again and the heat isn’t helping anyone, but like I said yesterday we need to be more together at the business end of the race and that means going to deep to help your teammates. That’s what I want to see tomorrow and for the rest of this race.”

photo credit: @sprintcycling