Stage Kitzbuehel

Today's stage was highly anticipated, and it almost panned out for us. The start was wet, fast, and long. It took over 60km for the break to finally go (or be let go as the case may be). Knowing the field was going to be looking to us to control, we were careful to not let large groups get away and made sure to mark Movistar because they had a lot of dangerous riders. I worked hard with my teammates to control dangerous moves.

After the break went, there was a brief moment to try and recharge (although a slightly longer recharge would have been even better!). Then, once the gap had grown to 5 minutes, Markel and Ben started riding the front. It was a relatively smooth control day for them. As we approached the climb, the field got chaotic, and unfortunately we lost most of our control. We did our best to keep Tommy and Jakob in the front, which they were at the start thankfully. Then it was planned that Oliver, George, and I would make a good tempo for as long as possible, but both George and I were too far back and couldn't recover and make it to the front to help again. Oliver did a good pull, and Laurent rode really well today to help out Tommy and Jakob. In the end, Tommy was 3rd, so we are within striking distance with some certain shake up still possible over the next 6 days of racing.

I rode hard to the finish, but this climb is just so hard/steep, that you can't ever recover or go faster. If you don't have good legs, this climb will let you know! Although I hoped to be with the front group, I did hold on for a top 25 finish and remain positive that I still can help the team the rest of this week, maybe take an opportunity for myself at some point, and most importantly this will help build my fitness for the next goals, Utah and CO.

Enjoy the 3 pictures I took off my balcony. First is the town w/ some nice mountains in the background. Second is a church in town. Finally is the infamous Kitzbueheler Horn.