Dries De Bondt offered the 18th stage of the Tour of Italy, Thursday, in Treviso. The rider from Alpecin-Fenix was in a group of four breakaways who fought for the stage victory under the nose and beard of the sprinters, for whom this stage was the last opportunity to do battle. “There was a real collaboration in the group“, rejoiced the former Belgian champion in the post-race flash interview.
debondt, Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma), Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education-EasyPost) et Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) left from the first kilometers of the race. “Until the red flame, everyone collaborated“, explained De Bondt. “We knew that behind there was Cavendish, starts, Dainese… From the start, it was settled, they were going to win. But we had a plan, we talked a lot between the four of us and we stuck to it.“
“In the sprint, I knew that Affini was going to try to anticipate, to start from very far“, continued De Bondt. “I followed him. There was pressure from Magnus Cort Nielsen. I knew he is very fast, he has already won Grand Tours. We suspected that he would want to be in front in the last kilometer. In the last kilometer, I said to myself ‘we stop collaborating’, it’s time to go all out. Until then, everyone had collaborated.“
At 30, De Bondt won his first Grand Tour victory. “When I started cycling, I said to myself ‘I have dreams. These dreams become goals. And these goals, you have to go get them. Once I achieve a dream, I will seek another goal. I wanted to be Belgian champion (in 2020), I wanted to wear a distinctive jersey (in 2021), I wanted to win a stage of the Giro and I did it…“