Route d'Occitanie, 3rd stage: Cristian Rodriguez 2nd
Cristián Rodríguez took 2nd place in the queen stage of the Route d’Occitanie, which finished at the resort of Nistos-Cap Nestès. He is 2nd in the overall classification going into the final day.
Photo : Arkéa-Samsic / A. Lipke
“Everyone had to be vigilant at the start of the stage. There were a lot of attacks. The Movistar team set a big pace on the Col de Menté, before the final climb. The peloton thinned out considerably and there weren’t many of us left at the foot of the climb to Nistos-Cap Nestès. Woods started off and I was the only one able to keep up with him. Then I tried to attack him before the red light but he was the strongest today. I’m pleased with this 2nd place, another one in the space of a few days. I felt good today. Tomorrow, there’s a final stage. We’ll see how it turns out.”
“The aim of the day was to move up in the overall rankings with Cristián or Élie. We played it right. Cristián was initially in the breakaway of 13 riders. We asked him to get up again because there was too much valley between the climbs. Our other riders did a good job of getting him to the foot of the last climb. We knew that he could compete with Woods, but it’s hard to expect better from such a competitor today… The other satisfaction of the day was the top 10 finish by Élie Gesbert who, despite being a little late at the foot of the climb, fought hard to catch up with some of his rivals. Now there’s a final stage tomorrow to keep this 2nd place in the overall classification.”