Stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico and second place after avoiding crash

Stage 6 of the Tirreno Adriatico today and the team did a great job all day. We were well positioned in the last kilometers but, unfortunately, a crash took place right in front of me and in order to avoid hitting the road, I had to brake hard. The riders behind me piled up and my rear wheel was damaged, so we had to change it. I was able to come back for the final sprint but I had spent a lot of energy. That’s cycling, there are things you can’t control in a race. (Photo Luca Bettini)

Na dnešnej šiestej etape Tirreno-Adriatico odviedol tím naozaj dobrú prácu. V posledných kilometroch sme boli v dobrej pozícii, ale hneď predomnou sa vyskytol pád a musel som poriadne pribrzdiť, aby som sa mu vyhol. Potom sa za mnou nakopili ostatní jazdci a mal som poškodené zadné koleso, ktoré sme museli meniť. Podarilo sa mi síce vrátiť do vedúcej skupiny, ale ešte som sa potreboval dostať na samé čelo, aby som mohol špurtovať, čo ma stálo veľa síl. Aj to je však cyklistika, počas pretekov sa často dejú veci, ktoré sa skrátka nedajú ovplyvniť.

Tirreno Adriatico 2018 – 53th Edition – 6th stage Numana – Fano 153 km – 12/03/2018 – Marcel Kittel (GER – Team Katusha – Alpecin) – Peter Sagan (SVK – Bora – Hansgrohe) – photo Luca Bettini/BettiniPhoto©2018