It turns out our bold decision for the team prologue was a good one. We felt like we could win the prologue but we decided to protect Sergio and keep him in a good position in the GC. We maybe lost a few seconds because of that but now that he is leading the GC so I think it was the right decision.
It’s funny with Sergio, he is such a great guy. Even if you’re racing against him and you are from another team you will be happy for him because he is a special person. It’s always a pleasure to work for him and it’s a great feeling to see him in yellow.
Yesterday was the hardest race of the year for me so far. Since the start there were so many attacks. The racing is so hard because the small teams have no tactics at all and that makes the race hard because you never know what they will do. Sometimes if Sergio stops for a pee we’re scared that they will attack. So yesterday there were attacks from start to finish and we only rode steady for a few minutes. The smaller teams don’t race gradually, when they attack it’s full gas. When they chase down a breakaway they don’t do it at a steady pace, it’s like they want to catch the break in 1 kilomtre so they put everyone into the red.
We still have an individual time trial in the race and I will go full gas and give it my best but of course I am not going to save energy for the TT because I still have a job to do because we need everyone for Sergio. I will do my best all the days until the time trial and then see what’s left in my legs but we have some hard days on the way before the TT.
Everyone in the team is giving 100% and it’s a really good vibe in the team. When you see the guy next to you giving 100% you want to give 101% so it just lifts the whole level of the whole team.
Ignas Konovalovas
