“One word to describe this Tirreno Adriatico? Wild”
56th Tirreno Adriatico
Stage 7: San Benedetto del Tronto – S. B. del Tronto (10.1 km)
The end of the road has arrived. An intense, demanding journey. A journey with smiles and tears, great joys and small tragedies. Where the podium was stepped on or crashes appeared to deprive us of the road captain and his speed. A great journey, in any case. Such was the first WorldTour stage race for the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team. A learning experience. A useful experience for a season still full of commitments. A great experience for the next Giro d’Italia. In San Benedetto del Tronto, in the final time trial, another new test. It was the first time trial for the team. We were looking forward to seeing John Archibald, a great specialist, in action.
The Scottish neopro was the best in the team with his time of 12’02”. Archibald flew at more than 50 km/h, although he finished far behind the winner, Belgian Wout Van Aert. He should have been able to enjoy his category this season, at the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana, but the pandemic did its thing and postponed the race. Archibald had just completed his first experience in the category and at this level, weighed down by a fall a couple of days earlier that forced him to receive a few small stitches in his left leg.
After Archibald, within the team, the second fastest time was that of Samuele Rivi (12’22”). The rider from Trentino showed his skills as a sprinter. Immediately after him was Mark Christian (12’22”). Davide Bais (12’46”), Alejandro Ropero (12’56”) and Vincenzo Albanese (13’07”) were the rest of the times. In the overall, where the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won, the best classified of the team was Alejandro Ropero (83th). A great race comes to an end. A great experience.
John Archibald: “I think after six days of such a hard race, this was the best I could do: my legs were so hard and I suffered for the whole 10 kilometres, I struggled more than I expected… I noticed it every time I hit a speed bump in the road: usually I do them without noticing, this time I had to push to get over them. I’m a bit angry, but I gave everything and the team was perfect in putting me in a position to tackle this time trial in the best possible way. One word to describe this Tirreno-Adriatico? Wild. They told me it was a tough race, but I didn’t expect it to be like this”.
Samuele Rivi: “My fear in all the stages of this Tirreno-Adriatico has always been to arrive outside the maximum time limit! So… this time too I went full gas, which will help me to put good kilometres on the clock for the future. I leave these days with the satisfaction of having been there, and also of having taken part in a good breakaway: but more than anything else I’m happy because the team showed up a lot and raced really well”.
[ PhotoGomezSport]
