BIONAZ – «I'll tell you I said this morning. The Tour of the Aosta Valley it's not finished." Davide De Cassan He's smiling at the 1.979 meters of the Place Moulin dam, above Bionaz, in the beautiful and wild Valpelline. Okay, Davide didn't win, the triumph went to the Norwegian Martin Tjotta, but what matters is that the rider of the Cycling Team Friuli there is.
The third stage of the Valle d'Aosta offers long, but rideable, climbs. Today is even hotter than yesterday.The Friulian team added a man to the breakaway. A clear sign that they wanted to stir things up.
De Cassan true leader
And they certainly stirred the waters. A burst in the middle section, a bit like Golliker yesterday if you like, launched Tjotta to victory and he took this joy away from De Cassan but CTF's game was excellent.
De Cassan behaves and speaks like a leader. Eye contact, chest out, head held high. Truly, when he sees us coming, he points his finger at us and says that sentence written at the beginning.
When Roman arrives, Ermakov thanks himShe hugs him. She tells him—in English—that he didn't manage to win, but also to stay calm, that the Valle d'Aosta isn't over.
It's true, you told us: it wasn't over yesterday at Pré de Pascal...
I wanted to make up for yesterday's stage. My team gave me total support. This attack was quite planned, but there is always a long way to go between saying and doing. I missed 12", that's how much Tjotta gave me, but morale is high. We'll see tomorrow.
Davide, a champion's reaction. A bit like Pogacar after the first Pyrenean stage of this Tour de France...
Eh – he laughs – but he won, I came second.
But you still have other stages. And Pogacar isn't in yellow yet either.
True, it's not over and I I'll try again. Then if it arrives, good, otherwise, never mind.
What triggers your mind to take such a courageous step? Last night you went to bed feeling angry, disappointed...
No, I'd say not anger. There are so many people who support me and us at CTF, so I simply wanted to give it my all so I don't have any regrets.
Yesterday you used rather short gears given the extreme gradients of the final stretch. What was your setup today?
I have maintained the same relationships: 53-36 front and 11-30 rear.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck guy, Alex Bogna, wouldn't give you a substitution: did that make you nervous?
Yes, it really made me nervous. But I understand cycling a little now, and he had his leader behind us. Of course, if he had collaborated, those 12" would probably have become something less. and there would have been another stage finale, but I'll never know that. Never mind.
Golliker He kept the yellow jersey and Faure Prost had a strong finish, but you've dropped back into the standings (12th at 2'23”). What's changed?
Tonight I'll take a good look at the finish order and the gaps. And with a cool head, we'll decide what to do starting tomorrow.
Mattiussi coup
On the arrival of Bionaz there are several characters from the Aosta Valley, above all Federico Pellegrino, a cross-country skiing legend and Olympic medalist, enjoying the challenge from the top of the stage and looking down on the boys with admiration. The teamwork of Cycling Team Friuli didn't go unnoticed by him either.
Author of this action is Alessio Mattiussi, the sporting director of Roberto Bressan's team.
Alessio, let's start with De Cassan's reaction too...
Yesterday, we expected something more from Davide, but we knew he was in good shape. However, we wanted to try again, send a signal, and show who the CTF is. The idea was to place a guy in attack and have a bridge for the finale. Davide had to attack from afar and gain on the group, if only to take the stage victory… which narrowly escaped us.
Yesterday we saw a steep climb, today more rideable climbs: are these your routes?
In my opinion, also considering how Davide did last year right here in Valle d'Aosta, He prefers longer climbs with slightly gentler gradients. So yes: today was his stage. But it doesn't end there, because starting tomorrow the climbs change again. The peculiarity of this race is that it's long, tough, and crises, for everyone, are just around the corner.
It loves pedal-friendly climbs, but we found it to be very agile, almost too agile in some situations. Is this a characteristic of its, or could we have chosen different gear ratios?
He is generally a boy who he likes to stand up on the pedals a little, he sits down and therefore tries to rotate his leg a lot. It's his attitude and we indulge it.
Why was he a bit nervous yesterday? This morning, after the video interview, Davide told us that yesterday the others had shifted into sixth gear and he had stayed in fifth…
He actually had a good approach and a very good first stage, but at the start of the final climb he was among the best. I think he'll remain an unknown quantity, especially after seeing how this second stage went. Davide, however, is a man of great endurance, he goes out on the trail and the tougher the Giro, the more he can show what he's made of.
Thanks a lot…
If I may add a note, I would like to say thank you to Ermakov. He did an exceptional job today. This shows you're a rider and you understand what a team is.
