Matej Mohoric: "I’m a little bit disappointed, I really believed I could win today"

It was a bittersweet day for Bahrain Victorious rider Matej Mohoric in Gran Piemonte. Mohoric narrowly lost the victory to Ivan Garcia Cortina and finished second behind him.

“I really believed I could win today. I felt super good in the climb and I was not on my limit,” said Mohorci . He continues, “I felt very good in the last 30km too. The pace was very high in the first group and I saw lots of guys were on their limit, and I thought they could not be fresh for the sprint. I believed in my chances but unfortunately when I opened on the right side following Bettiol, he changed a bit direction and I had to stop also a little bit with my sprint.”

But Mohoric did not make excuses and accepted his defeat while praising Cortina. “I think I didn’t do the perfect sprint, but Cortina was just stronger coming from back on the left side so he deserved this victory, and I’m happy for him as he was a former teammate. In the end, a second place is a good result and I would be very happy if someone would have told me that I was second today at the start. I would have signed immediately for it. But seen how the race went and how I felt I’m a little bit disappointed, as I had to stop pedalling when I came out on the right side”.

His next race is II Lombardia on Saturday and he is not gonig down without a fight. “We are very much looking forward to Il Lombardia. We have a very solid group of climbers, and we hope to be there in the mix. I will make sure our leaders will be in the best position to fight for the win in the finale. We have good cards to play with, more options. I’m looking forward to the race,” concluded Mohoric.