On a day he had earmarked for a long time as being the one where he would make a push for what would have been his second Tour de Langkawi title, Tom Danielson instead had the disappointment of finishing way off the pace at the summit of Genting Highlands.
The Garmin Barracuda climber trailed in 74th, over eighteen minutes back, and said afterwards that his ambitions were scuppered by the fall he had last Sunday.
“It has just been a battle. I have such good form and coming into this race, I wanted to really do a good ride. Unfortunately my body is just way off from the crash,” he told VeloNation in a video interview carried out at the summit of the climb.
“Crashing is pretty hard, but when you crash like that in a sprint finish, it takes a lot out of you. I’ve been doing the best I can, but obviously it’s not what I wanted. It is like you have got the flu. You are just so achy. Your body doesn’t work because it’s just trying to repair itself.”
The 33 year old had started the stage second overall behind the Australian Darren Lapthorne; like Danielson, the Drapac cycling rider also cracked and suffered on what was a tough, unforgiving day.
To watch the full interview with Danielson, click on the image below.