After attacking during the first four stages of the Tour de Bretagne (read here), Aubin Sparfel this time distinguished the sprint this Wednesday during the sixth act (see classification). He left his teammate Antoine to try his luck on the final circuit. “I was still hoping to attack. Unfortunately, I saw that it was coming back in the descent all the time, so I stayed calm. With an arrival punchy and lasts like that, I could play something”explains to the microphone of Directive Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale DT resident.
The runner, who will celebrate his 19th birthday this Saturday, was only preceded by the British Noah Hobbs (EF Education-Aevolo). “Louic (Boussemaere) helped me in the final and in the last bump to place me well and come back to the small groups in front of us. Then, I managed for my sprint. Unfortunately, when Noah Hobbs goes out, I am stuck at 300 meters between Emmanuel Houcou and the guy of Astana (Ivan Smirnov, ndlr). It played a little elbows, so I lost a few meters. Then, I manage to come back quite strong, but the gap was already done, it was impossible to go up. However, I manage to finish 2nd, so I’m still satisfied. “
With the six seconds of enhancement recovered, Hope 1 is 14 seconds closer to the leader Felix-Orn Kristoff (Wanty-Nipo-Reuz) and even climbs on the general podium, due to the 20 seconds of penalty inflicted on the old 2nd, Jackson Medway (Tudor U23), for prolonged shelter behind the car of its sports director. But Aubin Sparfel does not intend to stop there. “The podium is not the goal. I am thinking of victory. The goal is to reverse the steam. I saw that the last step was very hard”. Answer this Thursday between Landébia and Plancoët (Côtes d’Armor).
