EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team concludes as the best team in Poitou-Charentes
35º Tour du Poitou-Charentes
Stage 4: Villefagnan – Poitiers (166.5 km)
In Poitiers, the last finish of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Clement Carisey won, British rider Connor Swift Connor Swift was crowned like overall winner and EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team also climbed the podium as the best team of this edition. The team spirit and the collective work displayed throughout the season by the men in blue against experienced WorldTour and ProTeam squads.
Carisey was one of the eight riders who formed the breakaway of the day and went into the final kilometres, on a nervous final circuit, with the advantage to think about victory. He won with a narrow margin over a group of about thirty riders in which Manuel Belletti (16th) and Davide Bais (25th) were riding. Belletti and Bais saved the big crash (there were others before, some involving Bais himself or Samuele Rivi; in this one it was Wackermann) that knocked out several contenders for the win, such as Elia Viviani.
#TPC2021. The best team of the @TourPoitouChtes 2021 .
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[ ️ Roberto Puertas]
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#EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam #Stage4 #WeAreATeam pic.twitter.com/hf4Pzb3hqR— EoloKometaCyclingTeam (@EoloKometaTeam) August 27, 2021
It was also saved by Erik Fetter, who came in a little further back after being involved in an acceleration with other riders. The Hungarian improved four positions to finish in the top fifteen overall: 14th, 2’10” behind the winner. “It’s a pity that we lacked a bit of luck on the first two days. We lost a lot of time, which deprived us of being in the fight, not for the overall, we can’t know that, but for a place in the top ten, for sure. In spite of everything, I’m happy with this series of races in France, where I made my debut as a professional. I’m looking forward to the end of the season with renewed hopes”.
Stefano Zanatta, directeur sportif: “A victory in the team general classification is always important and has a great symbolic value because it means that things have been done well and for several days. And even more so in a race like this one, with such nervous developments and so many alternatives. We came close to a win in the time trial thanks to John and in the overall we could have achieved a much better position with Erik if he hadn’t been affected by the cuts from the crashes. But that’s the way the sport is and the balance is good”.
