What a moment for @kwiato 🤩 #TDF2023
"I think I had the best legs I've ever had today" - Tour de France performance above World Championships win for Michal Kwiatkowski
CyclingFriday, 14 July 2023 at 17:54
Milano-Sanremo, Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold Race and World Championships winner Michal Kwiatkowski has won his second Tour de France stage win this afternoon at the Grand Colombier, and admits it may have been his best perfomance ever to conquer a tough mountain stage.
“I had eighteen friends in the breakaway. When I went into the break I thought, this is a free ticket to the base of the climb. I never thought we would fight for the win," Kwiatkowski admits in a post-race interview. “Apparently it is not so easy to follow 19 men. We did not want to miss a big break. We like to participate in the big selections. I think UAE Emirates let too many men ahead."
The British team played their cards for the stage win knowing it would be difficult for anyone to control such a large breakaway. Whilst Carlos Rodríguez and Tom Pidcock rode a strong stage in the fight for the overall classification, the Pole had the legs to go and contest the stage on the final 17-kilometer climb, with his form on the rise after having been close to the top two on Cauterets.
The 33-year old, riding his ninth Tour, believes this could've actually been the best performance of his career. "I think I had the best legs I've ever had today. I never thought this was possible," he states. "Winning at the top of the Grand Colombier is incredible. I have memories here with Egan Bernal about thinking about giving up the race. That's what he did later on. Today was really different. Incredible.”
A success story on the slopes of the brutal ascent, Kwiatkowski won the stage with 47 seconds over Maxim van Gils, and 50 over Tadej Pogacar who was the first of the riders from the peloton. He made the difference in the opening kilometers of the final climb where the break broke to pieces, attacking with 12 kilometers to go and sustaining the solo lead all the way into the line.
“Without the fans this wouldn't be possible. I didn't have the car behind me. I couldn't really hear what was happening behind me. The fans really helped me to the finish. They were great," Kwiatkowski concluded on Bastille Day, repeating the feat of the British team who had Tom Pidcock conquer last year's stage at Alpe d'Huez.
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