Dries de Bondt: Final sprint "was really a dream"

The final sprint stage of the Giro d'Italia has surprised many, as the expected bunch sprint did not happen despite the sprinter teams' best interests. The breakaway has taken the glory on the day, with Dries the Bondt hitting the headline for the best reasons.

After his stage win, de Bondt said in the flash interview: “A big compliment to all four of us. We worked together magnificently until the last kilometer. We had time to speculate, but we didn't. No one skipped a turn, no one hesitated for a second," he said. Together with Edoardo Affini, Davide Gabburo and Magnus Cort Nielsen, De Bondt created a gap that never grew too much, however allowed them to stay out in front and fight for the stage win.

This is so beautiful because everyone thought this would be a sprint ride. It was written in the stars that Mark Cavendish, Arnaud Démare or Alberto Dainese would win," he added. The sprinter teams tried their best to reel in the quartet, but the speed was too high and with some riders less for the chase due to the abandons so far in the race, De Bondt was in a position to suddenly take the win.

With Cort Nielsen in the group it wasn't to be an easy task, however all four riders had good sprint indicators in the past. He described the sprint: “In the sprint we put the pressure on Magnus, because he has the greatest record. It makes sense that he has to start from scratch. I knew I had to be in Edoardo's wheel, because he would go a long way. If I could get out then I could win. It's really great that it worked!"

De Bondt, a classics rider and former Belgian national champion, as taken in Treviso the biggest win of his career. A highly motivating one after three weeks on the attack, with a team that's been highly successful.

"Fuck, I can't believe it. That was really a dream. When I started cycling, I started dreaming. Those dreams then became goals. I achieved those goals and then I started dreaming bigger... And then I started dreaming of a stage win in this Giro. Also succeeded, really great," he concluded.