No fairytale ending in Limousin as TNN look ahead to Belgium

Head Sports Director Massimo Podenzana:

“It was a big move that went up the road early on today’s stage and that dictated how the day would go. We weren’t represented in the break and with only three of our guys left standing, today was just about coming through without any more bad luck and keeping Andrea, David and Sam Brand in good shape for Belgium next week.”

“Thankfully we managed to do that, and the boys used their heads, tried to conserve energy where possible and made it. There’s no hiding from the fact that it has been a tough race for us, we came with better expectations. Suffered with a couple of crashes on the first stage and that put us up against it for the rest of the week.”

“We need to look ahead now, put it behind us and work hard at our next races in Belgium and then back to France again in early September.”

Andrea Peron:

“Hard. Hot. Hilly. That’s how I’d describe today. We thought there might be a bit of a respite after the break went, but there wasn’t. For us it was full on again and we tried to move up on the last circuit, but it was absolutely full gas. The experience of racing here has been good, and I hope to recover well for Belgium now, because we go again in less than a week.”

David Lozano:

“I didn’t have anything left to move up today, I was up there in the front group, but I can really feel it in my legs today. Direct from Denmark into Limousin has definitely been tough and although we had some bad luck here, it was always going to be a hard race for us. The roads are beautiful in this area, rolling and full of short, sharp climbs that definitely suited the punchier riders in the peloton.”

“C’est la vie as they say. We’ve come through and it’s another race ticked off where we came to try and share our message of inspiring, educating and empowering everyone affected by diabetes and to show that it’s possible to compete and race at this level.”