French Time Trial Championship - Ewen Costiou 6th
Ewen Costiou finished sixth in his very first professional French Time Trial Championship. Thibault Guernalec was 7th.
Photo Arkéa-Samsic/ Aubin Lipke
On the line…
“I missed out on the top five by just a second. I’m still happy with my time. I feel I’ve turned a corner compared to the 2022 season. I managed the first part of the race, which was pretty flat. I knew that the second was more my style. I put some more into it on each false uphill, and that’s how I managed (sic!) the final of this time trial. I also managed to make up for lost time in the final, finishing very close to fifth place, because at an intermediate point, I was ten seconds from that position, only to die in the end just one second behind it”.
“I was aiming for a top 5, and I’m not there. I’m not far off either. There are some good riders ranked behind me. The surprise is obviously Ewen. He’s a good rider in the making. I spent two good days with him. I’m pleased that he set a good time. I think he has what it takes to do even better in the future. For my part, I’m a bit short in the final to get that top 5. I’m going to study my finish and see where I can improve. I set one of my best times of the season. I’m not far off the podium either, so it remains to be seen what I need to work on and improve on in order to achieve this goal”.
The debrief’
“Thibault struggled a bit on the last climb of this time trial. He’s just come off the Giro d’Italia, and that’s never easy, especially when a rider is finishing his first Grand Tour. The finish was very punchy. As for Ewen, he put in a very promising time, and in the last third of the race he was able to put in a good performance. It was the kind of finish we’d come to expect from him. I had a few more doubts about his ability to negotiate the flat section. He removed them. 6th and 7th is a fine performance from our riders, which encourages us to work even harder on the time trials.