Three-time World Champion spends day chasing off the back, still takes 2nd in bunch sprint
Second place in a bunch sprint early in the year in Mallorca isn't usually a time for too much frustration, but Rabobank's triple World Championship winner, Oscar Freire, can't be too satisfied with his luck leading up to his runner up finish on the final stage of the Challenge Ciclista a Mallorca on Thursday.
Freire leapt to the front of the sprint early, but was overtaken by Brazil's national champion, Murilo Fischer, in the final fifty meters. Looking back at the day, it looks like Freire lost the sprint well before the final meters though. Rabobank director, Erik Dekker, tells the story of a crash that felled half a dozen of his riders early on to RaboSport.
"We lost almost the entire team when a rider from another team came underneath in a corner. In the crash that occurred, six of our riders fell victim. At first glance, it seems everything is ok: Tom Jelte Slagter got a bruise on his right elbow and seems the worst off. Juan Manuel Garate is complaining about subsequent pain in the wrist and head, while Pieter Weening and Luis Leon Sanchez have various scrapes. Coen Vermeltfoort and Oscar Freire didn't have many problems from the crash, but they had to chase back."
Chasing back is apparently a mild description of the events that followed. According to the soon to turn 35 year old rider, the chase to get back on was anything but simple.
"The crash was important. We were off the back for a long time, and that costs a lot of strength and power for the sprint. We spent almost half the race chasing the lead group…I wasted a lot of energy during the race, and in the end, it showed in the sprint," said the Spaniard to Es Ciclismo following his still promising finish.
The results of the crash could have been a lot worse, so while Freire and the team might rue a missed opportunity on Thursday, they could at least breathe a sigh of relief that none of the squad's riders were lost to terrible luck in one of the first races of the year.
Looking back at the five days of racing in Mallorca, former Paris-Tours winner, Erik Dekker, was satisfied with the performance of his team.
"A win was lacking, unfortunately, but outside of the crash today, it was a good week. Almost everybody was in good form, and we had some good results."