This Saturday morning, he was still in good position to make a good general classification. Cristian Rodriguez responded on the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie, disputed between Sion and Thyon 2000. The Spanish climber was able to tame the 21 kilometers at more than 7.7% of the last climb by signing a beautiful 6th place. “The sensations were good all week. My legs were still. My teammates helped me well and I made the best possible climb”he reports to Directiveworn out by the effort a few moments after arrival.
Cristian Rodriguez was able to accompany the best runners when Jay Vine accelerated 7.5 kilometers from the finish before losing contact with the favorite group a terminal further. This result satisfied Maxime Bouet, the sports director of the Arkéa- & B Hotels team this week. “Doing 6th is very good for us, it’s even excellent in view of the set of this Roman tower. If I had been told that this morning, I would have directly signed with both hands. Cristian is an excellent climber. He made a very good climb. I think he went to get the best possible result for him and for the team. We did everything to help him at the best day”. The 30 -year -old runner was able to count on the work of his teammates to place it in the best conditions before the final ascent. “He was in the first fifteen at the foot of Thyon 2000. Then, the legs are talking about. What to remember is the work that was put in place on all the stages”.
“Having no regrets”
This great performance allows Cristian Rodriguez to enter the top 10 in the general classification (see here). There is now one last step, a 16.9 km time trial in the streets of Geneva. “When we arrived here, we saw that there were still twelve very good runners for the general classification. Cristian is 10th, so the objective is to try to stay in the top 10. There are very good rollers in the first in the ranking. Tomorrow, it will be necessary to give the maximum to have no regrets”, says Maxime Bouet.
In addition to the general’s challenge, Arkéa-B & B Hotels will also count on his runners at ease during timed efforts, Thibault Guernalec and Raul Garcia Pierna, to achieve a good performance. “Today, Thibault and Raul had to do their job as much as possible and then end quietly in order to preserve himself for the time trial. Thibault made 7th of the prologue. For his part, Raul is very good on the long time. On the prologue, he was less good because he was coming out of Liège-Bastogne-Liège on the day before. It was really tired. It would be great to do a good performance Romandie on a good note ”.
