Wounds licked, pain tolerated, Niv “in control“
There is never an “easy day” in the TDF, but after the harsh welcome we had in the opener, today the two 1st category mountains (and some more) — looked pretty tolerable.
Of course, it’s all relative. Nobody in his right mind can envy Andre Greipel on what had to be a hard climbing day with five stitches in his injured leg. But Andre ground it out and never said a word of complaint. Ben Hermans and Nils Politt had to endure somewhat less pain, but still, it was far from easy. The bottom line, though, is that they all made it to the finish line and hopefully will fully recover in the coming days so that they can turn into a fully aggressive mode.
There was also a sigh of relief coming from Israeli Guy Niv, who felt pretty comfortable. “I was in control all day long,” he said. “ Much better than yesterday but still not at 100 percent. When I reach that, hopefully in a few days, I will try to move into a mode that may help the team.”
