Schlagwort-Archive: Charley Wegelius

Nate Brown tops Tour’s King of the Mountain classification

Cannondale-Drapac will continue to #rockthedots at the Tour de France as the King of the Mountain jersey moved from the Taylor Phinney to Nate Brown on Monday following stage three. It was history in the making as Brown jumped to the top of the King of Mountain classification. Never before have two Americans worn polka dots in the same Tour.

“If you had told me I’d be the one to take the jersey, I would have told you that you were crazy, even this morning,” Brown said. “Obviously we had Phinney – if he had the aptitude to go into the break again today. It’s a tall task to ask someone to go into back-to-back breaks. Dylan [van Baarle] was our second guy. I was third on the list.”

Brown’s position at the top of the King of the Mountain classification, like Phinney’s, materialized from his ability to slip up the road. A three-rider escaped formed early. Phinney was tired from his outing on Sunday and Van Baarle had missed the move.

“The peloton completely blocked the field,” said Brown. “They weren’t going to let anyone by, but there was this Wanty guy that really, really wanted in on it, and I knew that. I stuck on his wheel. We got to this section where he could use a dirt road on the side to go around. I went with him, and we made it across.”

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Pierre Rolland solos to Giro d’Italia stage 17 win


Pierre Rolland knew he had won stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia when he hit the flamme rouge with 27 seconds over his chasers.

The Frenchman had time to savor the victory in Canazei. He flashed a huge smile, pointed to the sponsors on the front of his jersey and threw his hands in the air as he crossed the finish line.

He embraced Cannondale-Drapac soigneur Ricardo Pereira first and then communications director Matthew Beaudin. He hoisted his Cannondale Evo SuperSix high over his head. And then Rolland buried his face in his hands and he cried.

“I don’t have the word in English,” said Rolland. “It’s soulagment [relief]. I worked so hard for this, and I haven’t had the compensation for my work. I have tried to win so many times, and today I finally did. This is the reward for me and all my Cannondale-Drapac teammates.”

Rolland was part of an early breakaway of three riders that slipped away at the start of the 219-kilometer stage. The 30-year-old rode with Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates) and Pavel Brutt (Gazprom) over the first two categorized climbs before opting to drop back to a 40-rider chase group that included Mike Woods.

“Sometimes after a hard stage, I go from the start,” said Rolland. “I didn’t think there would be just three of us. I took the first climb easy, the second climb easy, and then I waited for the big group.

“Those big groups are never easy to manage,” Rolland added. “They’re like a big lottery.”

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