American rider concedes that the best man won Paris-Nice as he looks ahead to the Tour
Having finished second overall in the 2013 Paris-Nice, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) vowed to return to the Race to the Sun and win in the coming years. The 24-year-old American - dubbed “Pit Bull” by team manager Jonathan Vaughters - finished the race just 55 seconds behind winner Richie Porte (Team Sky), having led the race for two days following his victory on stage three.
Although he missed out on the yellow jersey, his second place overall also meant that Talansky finished in the white jersey of best young rider.
“I have no regrets,” Talansky said after the race. “I like it when the best rider wins the race and Richie was the best rider so he deserves to win. I'm happy. I'll come back and win this race in the future.”
Talansky had lost the yellow jersey to Porte on the fifth stage to la Montagne de Lure, after the Australian had attacked in the closing kilometres. The American had been on of the most aggressive riders earlier in the climb, which arguably cost him the energy needed to follow Porte’s attack, but reaffirmed that he had no regrets over his choice of tactics.
“It doesn't matter,” he said. “You saw today that Richie was stronger. So there's nothing I could have done. This Paris-Nice is a big success. Second in the stage, second overall. Perfect. Next year, one day, I'll win.”
Talansky is now in his third full year with Garmin-Sharp, having joined the team as a stagiaire at the end of 2010. His second place in Paris-Nice marks the biggest result of his career, as he continues to develop.
“It's a big step up,” he said. “I was second last year in [the Tour de] Romandie and it was a hard race with Bradley [Wiggins] in it but this is much harder than Romandie, one more step up than Romandie. It's the most difficult one-week race, the most prestigious one-week race race in the year with Dauphine. This race is a one-week Tour de France.”
As the subject turned to the Tour de France, Talansky confirmed that he will “definitely” be on the start line in Corsica on June 29th, and that he intended to at least share the responsibility of team leadership.
“Ryder [Hesjedal] will go 100% for the Giro this year,” he explained. “He'll still be very, very good at the Tour but I'll definitely be a leader along with Ryder. As you saw with Sky last year, it doesn't hurt to have two leaders.
“When the race is down to ten riders in the mountains, it's better to be two with Ryder instead of only one,” Talansky added.