Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Higuita of EF Pro Cycling remain in the contest after a complicated level of opening of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Wednesday. Urán forced the favorite before the race Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) to react with a strong attack on the far uphill in Saint-Christo-en-Jarez 3 kilometers from the end, and was able to finish in the organization of 60 forwards, while the Colombian the race champion on the road, Higuita, able to stick to the most productive of the line to take seventh place.
“In the last few miles of the race, I felt smart, so I looked to check things out a little bit,” Urán said on EF Pro Cycling’s online page on Wednesday afternoon. ‘It was a tough end, and they didn’t give me much space. But I felt smart and felt satisfied as the first day back.”
Uran and Higuita were competing in their first race since the game stopped in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Uran, 33, who last competed in the Tour Colombia 2.1 in February, and Higuita, 23, which last ran in Paris. . -Nice in March, where he finished third overall.
The two runners return from home to Colombia during the festival recess and train together, but it was nothing compared to the return of the race in Europe in front of the most productive runners in the world, with later goals in mind. Uran said.
“It’s about building as much strength as you can imagine before the Tour de France,” he said. “We have a wonderful team here and we have to do it right, but it’s going to be a confusing race because it’s actually difficult. Overall, however, it was a smart first day.”
“Between us and the guys who have already run this season, you can notice a small difference, because they have already done many days and that’s why they’ve already returned to that race pace, and we’re a bit of them,” he admitted. Uran. “But we don’t really care because we’re motivated to do the right thing.
“We were there today, but we also know that there will possibly be a day or two where we may not be, but it’s about going back there and seeing what we have and enjoying the race,” he said.
Chief sporting director Charly Wegelius added that it’s vital to bring that first day of the festival back to the stock market.
“It’s smart to finish the first day of the race without major mishaps,” he said. “It’s been a long time since this organization was absent from the race, of course, and they arrive in an organization of runners who have been running for a while. It’s a wonderful way.
“I think the first impression is that the band worked very well,” Wegelius continued. “I’m sure there are some little pieces we want to work on, which we’re going to be working on this week. In fact, it was wonderful to see Rigo in the most sensible way of his game in the final, and I think Sergio did great in the end, we probably would have liked them to position the end 150 meters uphill, but you can’t have him at your fingertips.”
Uran, Higuita and his EF colleagues, who come with Tejay van Garderen, Hugh Carty and Dani Martinez, face a shorter but sharper moment of the Vienna Dauphiné on the Col de Porte on Thursday: only 135 kilometers long, but with a rise and 3 ascents categorized on the way before the end in the most sensitive of the Col de Porte Matrix (HC) out of category 1 Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) is in danger of wasting its advantage, meaning it will be at stake among the world’s climbers.
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