Benoît Cosnefroy: "Personally I'm happy to get on the podium"

Benoit Cosnefroy has been hitting the post in the Ardennes for some years now and for some brief moments it seemed like he had finally reached that much-worked win. He's finished second in Amstel Gold Race after making it in the decisive move, however the signs are good for the coming races.

After being present in the initial selection that happened over the fast sequence of bergs inside the final 50 kilometers, Cosnefroy played the finale perfectly as he joined up with Kwiatkowski in front with a stinging attack on the Geulhemerberg, benefiting from Tom Pidcock's deorganization efforts in the chasing group.

"When I crossed the line, I didn’t really know if I’d won or if I was second. After a few minutes they told me I’d been announced officially as the winner, so there was all the joy that goes with that - I thought I’d won a Classic. I share that moment with my teammates," he added."

After leading out the sprint, Cosnefroy seemed to have the speed to keep the lead but just barely got beaten by Michal Kwiatkowski, with the results only revealed in the photo-finish: "It's a nice podium. I'm happy about it. Although I would've preferred to win against Kwiatkowski, he was faster than me."

It happened little by little. We can be collectively proud and personally I'm happy to get on the podium... You lose a lot in cycling and I lost today, but I really enjoyed this Amstel Gold Race. If I'm going to cry about a podium at Amstel, I should stop cycling. For sure I’d have preferred to win. But when you step on the podium it’s still a big moment in a career." he concluded.

He has in the past finished on the podium of Brabantse Pijl and Flèche Wallone where he will be racing next, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège where he'll be finishing off his spring campaign.