PIC OF THE MONTH

29 March 2009

Coppi e Bartali: So after having a bad start to my trip in Italy thing have gone a bit better. I placed 5th in the first stage sprint which ended up in a bunch kick. I was a little disappointed not to have made it onto the podium because I feel I could’ve but hey that’s cycling. The tour was really hard and always fast and hardly ever flat from Stage 2 till the end. I decided to save my legs on stage 3 and rode in the grupetto and save my legs for stage 4.

Stage 4 was the only other flat day, which was welcomed by everyone as Stage 3 was so brutal and our grupetto swelled to over 80 riders that day, more than half the field. I positioned myself well for the sprint (stage 4) 2km  to go where guys fell in front of me and I had to make up lost ground catching them in the final km but because I was sprinting from behind I was never going to win and even got boxed in at the end but I have got a good feeling that my day is going to come soon.

Yesterday was a day for the climbers and I actually wanted to see if I could be there for the final as 80 guys had already stopped the race after the first climb of the day. It consisted of 6 climbs ranging from 8-10% with the final 3 climbs about 2km at 16-18%. I had great legs and thought if I could just hang on I have a chance to win, especially with no sprinters left. On the final lap up the final climb (5km to go), Pfannberger and Cunego went so hard that I just couldn’t hang on and I fought all the way up hoping they would sit up a bit but they never did and I didn’t get back on. Evans won the stage and I finished about a minute down. I was happy with my performance especially since most people thought I couldn’t be where I was. :)

 darylimpey.com

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Coppi e Bartali, Stage 2