Andreas Kron: "Pity that I could not repeat last year’s stage win"

The Tour de Suisse concluded on Sunday with a stage win by Remco Evenepoel, while Geraint Thomas claimed the overall classification. Andreas Kron came in 16th overall, seven minutes behind Geraint Thomas, having finished third on the opening day.

With a third-place finish in the first stage and five days in the white best young rider's jersey, he seemed pleased with his results. “It has been a nice Tour de Suisse, but I mainly suffered a lot, This Tour de Suisse was way harder than last year’s edition. The goal was to win a stage and that almost happened on the opening stage, but I had to settle for third, unfortunately."

With the team in need and the peloton extremely thin due to the dozens of abandons, Kron found himself battling for a minor GC result. "Afterward, I would take it day by day and see how far I could hang on in the mountain stages to obtain a nice overall result. I learned a lot about what it takes to ride a general classification. You have to be 100% focused every day and being able to suffer until the line."

However, having finished 16th in the end, he revealed himself satisfied with the experience. "But I am happy with the experience I gained. Of course it is a pity that I could not repeat last year’s stage win but I learned quite a bit towards the future. Now I’ll take some easy days before finalizing the preparations towards my first Tour de France," he concluded.