Rivi fed the dream with a nice breakaway that ended near the finish line and Belletti finished ninth in Ruffec

35º Tour du Poitou-Charentes
Stage 2: Parthenay – Ruffec (193,6 km)

No race is inferior, no race is indifferent. Whenever there is a bib, there is always a commitment. And that commitment is in the DNA of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team. Victory is very difficult at the highest level, but the fight and the commitment will always be sure. In the second stage of the Tour Poitou-Charentes Samuele Rivi was the embodiment of that philosophy. The Italian fought in the breakaway that, after two previous attempts of some solidity without team representation, managed the final stages of the stage to be chased within the last 3.5 km. Frenchman Jason Tesson won the sprint, while Manuel Belletti, the only one of the team’s riders who arrived in the leading group after a new fall in the final part of the stage, signed a new top-10 for the men in blue: ninth in Ruffec.

It happened after the first of the four climbs qualifying for the day’s grand prix de la montagne. Rivi, the Italian Samuele Zoccarato and the Frenchman Laurent Pichon moved there and this move, after previous ones that had temporarily led the stage but had ended up being chased again by the peloton or a first leading group (because the group split at some points), achieved more than 2’20” that inside the final 40 kilometres. But the bunch, with the sprint-hungry teams, worked hard and broke up the breakaway. Winning is difficult, but commitment always prevails.

#TPC2021. Our Samuele Rivi, the man with the eternal smile, has climbed first the last two KOMs of the day. The breakaway holds 2’00” with less than 33 km to go.
[ ️ @France3NoA / @TourPoitouChtes] #EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam #Stage1 pic.twitter.com/0CbdDXgulm

— EoloKometaCyclingTeam (@EoloKometaTeam) August 25, 2021

Samuele Rivi: “Today was a good opportunity to try to get there, although the peloton of course worked very hard to catch us. We lacked a bit of luck to finish, but it was a nice day. And hard, we used up a lot of strength. I hope to do well in the time trial, I’ve worked a lot on this discipline this season, but it wasn’t my main goal for this race, my goal was in the breakaways and to help my team-mates. Both Erik and John have lost time in these stages and it won’t be a good time trial for the fight for the overall”.

For Thursday, a double sector. First, early, 109.6 kilometres that in its final part repeat the orographic dynamics of these days: narrow routes, with steep, nervous, dangerous for the falls. In the afternoon, a time trial of 23.5 kilometres that will surely be fundamental for the resolution of the general classification. A time trial, why not, to dream of beautiful performances by Erik Fetter, Hungarian national champion, John Archibald or even Samuele Rivi himself, who had a great Italian national championship.

Sector 1: Moncontour – Loudun (109.6 km).

Sector 2: Monts-sur-Guesnes – Loudun (23.5 km ITT).