Ridolfo leads from the front long break in Denmark

Young Italian first-year professional Filippo Ridolfo, was alive to the early attacks on a gruelling third stage at the Tour of Denmark jumping into the breakaway after 3 kilometers of racing and only being caught 230km later.

Filippo Ridolfo (ITA)
“Wow! I feel completely dead now. It was great to get out front and finally make it into a good move where all the guys wanted to work well together. We went very early in the opening kilometres, I followed the first attack and fortunately, I was the second wheel. We were maybe five guys in the beginning and even then I had the feeling it was going to go a long way. Then the rest of the guys bridged across to make a group of twelve.”

“On a stage as long as today and with gravel sections, we said beforehand in the team meeting that it would be a really good opportunity to go for the breakaway. I found it hard after around 200km as the fatigue started to set in but I loved the feeling of adrenaline showing off our jersey on our sponsor’s home ground for the whole stage.”

Sports Director, Gennady Mikhaylov
“Filippo did a fantastic job today. We spoke a lot on the bus on the way to the stage about how important it was to get in the breakaway today. It was a spectacular stage, very long, filled with gravel sections and mixed weather.”

“We knew that the guys will find it hard today, we knew that they would suffer but we can come away feeling satisfied with our work because we showed what it meant today to be racing in this jersey.”

“Filippo was fortunate to be in a move that rotated very well. They all knew that they had a really good chance of making it to the line but they were caught within the last 5km and then it was time for Andrea to have a go in the sprint. He did well again, he’s got very good legs in this race and if it wasn’t for being slightly boxed in, he would have made another top 10. Well done guys, great job today.”