Belgian climber shows amazing determination on brutal day.
Rain, cold temperatures and strong made for an unfamiliar welcome in Nice, from where stage 8 got underway. Together with Côte de Levens, Côte de Châteauneuf, Côte de Berre les Alpes, Côte de Peille and Col d’Èze – all crammed in just 116 kilometers – the weather made for a race of attrition that took its toll on many riders.
One of these was Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s Mauri Vansevenant, who before the start was lying in 15th place after a couple of strong performances in the mountains. The Belgian crashed on the wet roads of the descent leading to the second classified climbs of the day and despite getting back in the saddle, he found himself in no man’s land, trailing by several minutes a strong 21-man group containing many of the general classification favourites.
Despite any chance of a good result slipping away from him, Mauri summoned the strength needed to carry on and completed the stage, arriving on the famous Promenade des Anglais completely exhausted, but with his morale high having overcome one of the toughest challenges he has faced in his short pro career.
“I’m happy for Mauri, for what he showed today. It’s been a hard Paris-Nice, but he did well, learned a lot and it’s something it will stay with him for the rest of his career. Overall, it was a difficult race for us. We had a promising start after Fabio’s win, but then many of the riders got sick and had to drop out. But this is cycling and all that we can do is come back stronger and focus on the next races”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Tom Steels.
Photo credit: ©Bas Czerwinski / Getty Images
