What can you expect from a guy that suffered three crashes in the first three stages of the Tour De France, hurt his back and came to the tour following another crash injury?
Not much. Unless his name is Nils Politt.
This morning at the team meeting, before the start of the longest stage at the Tour (218 km), when the directors talked about the need to go to the breakaway and ‘steal’ a victory, Nils surprised everyone when he announced he would try to go for it.
Minutes into the stage, he was our guy that made it to the battle for the breakaway. And it was an unbelievably challenging one. Team Bora-Hansgrohe refused to let go, and the chase essentially went on for 170 km.
Nils knew that he and his five partners never stood a chance with Bora putting their full team to the pursuit. “It was quite painful,” he said. “On top of knowing we were getting a zero-gap but still going full gas for hours – I did not feel too good. My back was bothering me.” But he continued putting in his impressive numbers and even initiated a few kamikaze attacks – just because he could not stand the thought of giving up.
After that, it was another story. We missed the chance to fight for the victory. Still, Tom Van Asbroeck and Dan Martin were up there with the yellow jersey group. That’s encouraging news, especially for Dan Martin, who is waiting for his opportunity to shine in the mountain stages that await us here.
We got another great day of media exposure, leading the breakaway in our blue and white. But the guys are here with the desire to win and are chasing the dream with everything they have.
Expect it to be continued tomorrow.
גיא ניב עבר יום חלש יחסית , אחד מהימים האלו שאיתן מתמודד כל רוכב. אבל ניב במהדורת 2020 היא רוכב רגוע ומחושב, וכאשר הבין שזה לא אחד הימים הטובים שלו, היא פשוט חיכה לרגע שבו יוכל לעבור למצב של שמירה על הסוללה לימים הקשיח הבאים.
ניב: הכל בסדר.
הייתי סופר אקטיבי בפתיחה של השלב. הייתי בכמה מהלכים בהתחלה, ואז כשיצאה הבריחה של נילס כיסיתי המון התקפות וניסיונות גישור.
בהמשך השלב לא הרגשתי טוב. כשהבנתי שאני ביום חלש יחסית החלטתי שאני קופץ על הגרופטו הראשון שנפתח, בלי לנסות להישאר מקדימה עד שאני נושר. יש לנו 3 ימים קשים לפנינו ואין טעם לחפור היום בור לחינם״
Noa Toledo Arnon & Bettini photo
