Former Italian road race champion Filippo Pozzato has reflected on the sixth stage of the Vuelta a España, and said that he was very disappointed not to spray the champagne in Murcia.
“I’m here to win a stage and after I drove the finale this morning in a car, I thought it would come today,” he said, according to Feltet.dk “I tried to pull away on the descent, but it was too far from the finish. In the ensuing sprint, the others were just a little quicker than me and I was a little hemmed in by Grega Bole. Fifth place is not at all what I had hoped for.”
The 28 year old has had a varied season, with his top results being a stage win plus several top five placings in the Giro d’Italia, second on a stage of the Tour de Wallonie, fourth in the Montepaschi Strade Bianche, the E3 Prijs and a a stage of the Vuelta a Burgos, fifth in the Fior del Friuli, seventh in Paris-Roubaix and tenth in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
It’s a solid palmares for 2010, but is marked by just one win. He’s paid to take victories by his Katusha team, yet has appeared to crumble under pressure on many occasions, or simply not to push himself hard enough.
Russian champion Alexandr Kolobnev feels a bit hard done by, in terms of the way things worked out. “I did what I could,” he explaied. “We all gave the maximum, but when it all ended in a relatively large bunch sprint, we would need a little luck. With a kilometre to go we positioned Pozzato on the wheel of Hushovd, who was the man to beat today. But, to be honest, I had not expected so many sprinters would make the split after the hard pace we set,” he said.
Vladimir Karpets will also regret the fact that fortune, and victory, didn’t smile on the team. He was extremely strong on the final climb and is clearly in fine form himself. The team will continue to fight on, aiming to take at least one stage win and also to put Joaquin Rodriguez in the best position to win the race.