Classics finale in California
After Lüttich I purposely put my bike away and took some rest and relaxation. I have now been under the California sun since last week. We have done some tests at Specialized and optimized my time trial position on the new bike. I am really looking forward to the next time trial.
Peter's win on the first stage of the Tour of California was great for us. There is a terrific mood within the team. On the second stage I attacked after the group Felix was in was caught and found myself with 10 others in a 28km long Classic finale. The climb to the finish after 214km was an elimination ride, my legs were pretty heavy. I am satisfied with my fifth place, we'll see how it goes the next few days. I can relax and look day by day how my legs are, maybe I can still do something.
The organization gave us an extra motivation to go sat today. They warned of rattlesnakes on the road ;-) Until then, Maximilian.
Photo: Darrell Parks | Amgen Tour of California, Stage 2 | 13 Mai 2019
The weather demanded everything from us
I am very, very proud of my first podium placing in one of the five Monuments. The third place yesterday in Lüttich-Bastogne-Lüttich was a super end of the Ardennes Classics for me. Everything was demanded from us riders once again. We were underway for five and a half hours in, at times, pouring rain, hail and temperatures of about 5 degrees.
The last Ardennes Classic is right before us
I felt really good at the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday and in the end I could bring in another fifth place on the wall. As a team we tried to shape the race and rode aggressively. Our plan was to make the decisive move on the last climb of the Mur. The whole team put in some super work but unfortunately we couldn't produce the wished-for race situation.
A Look back at the Tour of the Basque Country
Wow. What a race that was for me. When I surprisingly won the opening time trial, I knew that I had good legs. I would never have dreamed that I would end up winning three stages. Of course I wanted to try it ever day, especially because the stages were good for me. And I also knew that I had a strong team behind me.
Thanks to my team
I have to thank my teammates another time for their support. They worked super hard the whole day and I had the legs to finalize it with another victory. So happy to deliver this one to the team.
