Laurens Huys is looking forwards to third week of Giro d'Italia: "I'm curious how my body will react during the tough final week"

Laurens Huys (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) has already shown himself in front several times in the 106th edition of the Giro d'Italia, which is the first Grand Tour for the 24-year-old rider. In the 'Lombardy stage' to Bergamo, won by Brandon McNulty, his efforts resulted in solid eighth place.

"In the beginning of the stage I had sensed the right time to pull in the breakaway and after five minutes of full riding the leading group of the day was formed. We had a plan to win the stage, with myself and Niccolò Bonifazio in the leading group," says Huys after the fifteenth stage to Het Nieuwsblad.

When McNulty, Ben Healy and Marco Frigo attacked, Huys had to let go of them, crossing the line more than 3 minutes behind the later stage winners. “Unfortunately it didn't work out in the end, but I'm proud of this top ten in my first Grand Tour. I'm discovering myself at this level and I'm happy to be competitive in this fierce competition after 47 race days this season. That's what I came to this Giro for."

"It was nice to show the colors of the team again at the front of the race and this time it was in the sun and in the presence of the many tifosi," the Belgian continues praising the weather and the atmosphere in Lombardy. "I've already spent a lot of energy in the past two weeks and I'm longing for the rest day to recover from the efforts. I'm curious how my body will react during the tough final week."

Laurens Huys has already finished 11th and 16th on stages of this Giro d'Italia, but his result on stage 15 was his best individual performance so far. While it's not his objective, Huys is still sitting at modest 26th spot in the GC and with few more successful breakaways, he might eventually finish in the top 20 in final standings.