Aubin Sparfel is untenable since the departure of the Tour de Bretagne. This Monday, he attacked for the fourth time in as many steps. “The first steps were not very conducive to me but I tried to attack in the bumps, where my qualities are the best because often, the final was too flat. When it hardens, I am in front”he observes for Directive. This time, the group in which he was went to the end. “I had seen that the final was a little more punchy than on the previous steps. I told myself that there was perhaps something to try. It was really a very difficult day, with attacks in all directions. I had to read the race. I’m glad I knew how to keep my lucidity in this explosive stage”.
He replaced himself when he saw the Lidl-Trek accelerate at the head of the peloton at the foot of the third Grand Prix of the mountain, the Côte de Villeneuve, just under 80 kilometers from the finish. “I told myself that something was going to happen. They continued to accelerate in the descent. It was very difficult to read. Frankly, I am happy to have been in front of that time”. They find themselves about twenty in mind. With his teammate Antoine the host behind and being one of the only individuals in the group, he refuses to collaborate and took the opportunity to recover well. Once on the final circuit, the attacks fuse. “I thought I was trapped. Finally, we went out with Matys Grisel, Federico Savino and Felix Orn-Kristoff. We returned to the leading group. The lidl-trek seemed a little to block. Almost all the teams were represented in front, so I told myself that it could go to the end. And it did, so it’s great”.
Win a step
In the last kilometers, Jackson Medway (Tudor Pro Cycling Team U23) then Felix Orn-Kristoff (Wanty-Nippo-Reuz) trap their escape companions. The latter make the mistake of observing at the top of the bump on the final circuit, traced around Landévant (Morbihan). “I told myself that if we were turning directly into the descent, we could come back. But that was not done like that”. Behind the two leading men, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale DT launched his sprint from afar. “I get used to the line only by two runners (see classification)”.
Even if the victory is not yet at the end, the cyclo-cross specialist sees the glass half full. “I am a little disappointed with the result, I had done things up to 2.5 kilometers from the finish. It’s the game, I’m still satisfied. I was really on this stage. It’s good for the future”. After four stages, he occupied 5th place of the general, 18 seconds from the winner of the day and new leader, Felix Orn-Kristoff. But Aubin Sparfel does not make a fixette of the general. “It can come in a second step but my main goal remains to win a step”. Since Friday, he has done everything to get there.
