«We are now a big family. I've seen the team more than my partner in the last few months.Three weeks in the Sierra Nevada, this one in the Dauphiné, from there we'll go straight to Tignes for another two weeks of high altitude and then here's the Tour! Matteo Sobrero opens the doors of the Bora Hansgrohe after yesterday's stage victory by captain Primois Roglic.
On the Collet d'Allevard the Slovenian signs the second success with the new jersey and jumps to the lead of the Dauphiné, detaching Evenepoel and lining up all the other big names, including a lively Giulio Ciccone.
Primoz breathes
Today the "little Tour" faces its penultimate stage. And it will still be full of great climbs. But yesterday Roglic gave an important signal.
A sign of confidence. It's not like Primoz has regained his smile, because all things considered, he's never been without it during these French days, but it's certainly grown stronger.
"I'm really happy. I'm finally back to winning," the Slovenian said after the finish, "even though it took a while. I was pretty limited with my left shoulderI couldn't reach into my pocket to get anything or push too hard. But my legs worked fine. I can't complain about my legs."
"I don't think I've won the Dauphiné yet. We have two finishes awaiting us that are much tougher than today's (yesterday's for those reading, ed.). But the important thing is that there are good feelings. The team worked well... Yes, we can have fun.».
Solid Sobrero
And these words are in line with what Matteo Sobrero told us. The Piedmontese has been included full-time in the operation. Tour de FranceThe team has immense faith in him.
“Basically I’m fine,” Sobrero said. “I’ve done good preparation. Towards the Collet d'Allevard I paid a bit for yesterday's blows, but the performance was good. From here we will go straight to Tignes and we will be ready for the Tour."
Matteo has worked hard these days. He was often close to Roglic and put in a more than good time trial. But as we were saying, this victory gives him confidence.
Sobrero again: «It's never easy to truly understand how Roglic is doing! Also because he's always in good shape. Besides the victory, I can say that he worked really well in Sierre Nevada. Of course, the road to the Tour is very long, but overall I don't see him doing badly at all. And I'm convinced that this victory will give him peace of mind after some difficult times."
Unexpected victory
A victory that, however, was not so obvious. In fact, it was perhaps even unexpected in some ways. Let's just say it came about along the way.
"The victory," Sobrero explains, "can't be said to have been planned. After yesterday's crash, in which all of us at Bora-Hansgrohe ended up on the ground, We were all more or less in pain. So we didn't want to take responsibility for the race. We wanted to sit back for a bit."
But evidently, as the kilometers went by, the blows were felt less than expected. In the massive crash, Roglic, for once, didn't suffer any major injuries: bruises and scratches. If anything, he was scared. "Many had it worse than me, but I fell on the same shoulder that was already having problems," Roglic said. Hence the pain he reported yesterday towards The Collet d'Allevard.
So the boys led in the team car by Rolf Aldag seized the opportunity.
"On the final climb," Sobrero concludes, "Primoz was fine. And that's how it went. They talked to Vlasov and made good use of the situation. What can I say: I'm really happy. Keep it up!
