Our third installment of the 2013 OPQS Best Moments shifts to a different grand tour: The Tour de France. This time, the victory was of extra importance following a loss that could have demoralized any other team. OPQS didn't allow that to happen. The bond of teammates was simply too strong. Instead, a loss due to a time difference of less than a second turned into a new sense of focus and motivation for the following stage. OPQS used a challenging moment as fuel for the fire of Tour de France Stage 5.
There was still a bad taste in the mouths of OPQS riders and staff after a hard fought 25km TTT in Nice for the 4th Stage. The difference between a victory and the 2nd step on the podium was .75 seconds, despite a masterful performance by the team. It didn't take long, however, to boost morale once again. A complete and unselfish effort by OPQS shifted momentum and set up Mark Cavendish for his first sprint victory of the 2013 Tour: 228.5km Stage 5 in Marseille.
OPQS chased down a four-rider breakaway that was reduced to a lone rider with 4km remaining. They put the whole team on the front to set up Cav despite a deceptively undulating course, including the Col de la Gineste (2.89km, 4.4%) with 12.5km left in the stage.
OPQS successfully reeled in the break, and also out battled all the top sprint teams who were salivating for a win. Still, the final moments came down to the extraordinary efforts of two riders: Gert Steegmans executed his role as leadout man to perfection after the team escorted he and Cavendish past a final turn with a few hundred meters remaining, and Matteo Trentin was the man who helped ensure the perfect leadout of Steegmans was possible.
"Looking back, I can see now that this victory was especially important for the team," Steegmans said. "We were so disappointed after Stage Four. The whole team left their legs and their hearts on the road in the TTT. But, that's cycling, and we didn't dwell on it. In Stage 5, after we worked hard all day, Matteo gave his all and even went a little longer with his pull for the leadout train. He pulled at about 570 meters to go instead of 500 meters, which is what the course map had stated. So, it was really impressive that such a young guy still moved up at the perfect moment in order for me to launch the sprint. I'm still happy looking back, because I feel like it showed how well we work as a team and how we didn't let a bad moment distract us from the next races."
Cavendish was also impressed with the effort of the whole team, comparing it to the perfect leadouts of the Giro d'Italia that earned him the Maglia Rosso.
"I was so, so proud seeing everybody work for a common goal — really dictating the whole race because they were all so committed to the sprint," Cavendish said. "I was really happy to see a young guy like Matteo and an experienced guy like Gert work together flawlessly in the final. It wasn't easy, that last turn gave us a challenge. But they remained calm and executed perfectly. I was happy we got to celebrate and we came back so strong after a heartbreaking TTT the stage before. We showed our chemistry and the strength of our morale that day and I am still so, so happy with that victory."