A final effort was required of him to reward a great day up front. While the protocol ceremony had started a little while ago, Baptiste Veistroffer offered himself a third climb up the finish ramp of the Castellon Grand Prix (1.1), on foot this time and accompanied by his sports director Wesley Van Speybroek. The Lotto rider won the prize for combativeness in the Spanish event.
“I STILL HAD JUICE”
Without an element to protect at the start, the Belgian team had given freedoms to its boys. And Baptiste Veistroffer, tireless attacker, knew how to take advantage of it. “I could follow a breakaway if there were more than five or six guys. In these moments, I have to seize my chance. It's always good to be at the front in a great race like this”. There were finally nine of them who took off. “It was a good number but the peloton didn't leave too much of a lead.”
The former VC Pays de Loudéac rider was the strongest of the escapees. “I felt good for a recovery. These are efforts that I quite like. I still had juice at the end to accelerate but the others a little less. It’s a shame that we lost some elements.”
“I DIDN’T CUT”
-He let go of his last two companions, Jack Brough (AVC Aix Provence Dole) and Kévin Avoine (Van Rysel-Roubaix), in the bump leading to the first crossing of the finish line. There were then 20 kilometers of racing left, far too many to resist the return of a peloton which then saw it in the distance. “The next climb was hard, it went quickly in the peloton from what I understood”.
He was swallowed up by the pack fifteen miles from the goal. “It’s a good day for my first race in this jersey”. A great way to start with the Lotto for someone who traveled 2,300 kilometers in the United States, on a gravel bike, in November, as a vacation. “I didn’t cut it, I had a good winter”. This season, the 24-year-old rider wants “contribute to collective performance by contributing something” to his team. “I want to show that I have my place.”
