The Critérium du Dauphiné, which concluded yesterday, was Alessandro Fancellu's first WorldTour stage race. The rider of Q36.5 Pro Cycling he lived this first experience as a way to grow, to learn and compete with the best riders in the world. In fact, many of the protagonists of the next Tour de France were present in the short French stage race. Starting with the winner Primois Roglic.
"It went as expected," says the Como native from home. It is the highest level race after the Tour de FranceHe proved it day after day, getting results or simply showing off is demanding. But if you can do something it's because you deserved it and you fought for it..
How did you know it was going to be complicated?
I would say right from the start, from the first uphill finish in the second stage. I stayed with the best and maybe there is a bit of regret for not having been able to do the sprintBut by the last kilometer I was truly out of legs.
High pace?
We tackled the climb at a crazy pace (the group took 18 minutes to cover the final ten kilometers of the Col de la Loge, with an average speed of 36 kilometers per hour, ed.). The solidity of the riders can be seen from the fact that in that stage with an uphill finish, even if not extremely challenging, we arrived in 50.
No one was leaving…
Worse! The sprinters also remained close; Magnus Cort won that stage, and Pedersen stayed with us until the end.
A good measure to understand your level compared to the best in the world.
The idea was to understand how fast they really go, It's important to compete with top-level ridersThe Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse are the most important races on the calendar for our team. Participating is a great experience and an honor, you have to try to show offTo make it clear that the invitation is deserved.
You tried.
Getting into a breakaway is very difficult, only people with strong legs and great condition can do it. I didn't try in the first four stagesI knew the right terrain would come at the end of the race. So after the huge crash, I tried to break away.
By the way, what was that fall like from the inside?
Pretty awful, luckily I managed to avoid it. I've seen a few crashes like this: high speed, downhill and as soon as you touch the brakes you flyI didn't brake and stayed standing, slaloming a bit between downed riders and bikes.
Is it difficult to reach the finish line against riders like that?
The escape never came to an end. A sign of how fast things were going and how the best were ready and prepared.
You even tried to hold on uphill.
At every stage, it was a test for myself, to understand the level. The day I went on the breakaway I was fine and once I recovered I tried to stay with the front riders. The stage after the race the condition was still good and I stayed with the best, breaking away when there were 20 of us left. It wasn't so much for the sake of ranking but to understand me, to know me.I was satisfied, the first 7-8 are unplayable but the others are there.
This is a season that is also giving you a lot of continuity…
Yes, and I'm very happy about it. I'm doing a lot of races, including some important ones, like the Ardennes Classics. It was my debut in that world and I liked it a lot.I had a good block of races in the spring and this allowed me to be more consistent than in the past.
Do you need such high-level appointments to be competitive in other appointments?
Definitely. Now I'll take some rest and go straight to the Italian championship. I'm on the list for the Tour of Slovakia and in July I'll be racing at the Sazka Tour.
