Tobias Lund Andresen is a very versatile sprinter and today that earned him a strong victory at the
Cro Race. The
Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL rider survived the day's tough climbs and then won an uphill cobbled sprint against the GC contenders in the race.
After finishing strong in the two difficult stages of the race, he himself is ultimately a GC contender for this race, climbing up to second in the overall classification.“It feels amazing, I didn’t really expect this. The team put a lot of faith in me. I didn’t win today; it was my team. From the plans we made before the start, to the pacing we did on the climb and my teammates bringing me back. I would never have been there if it wasn’t for the guys," the Dane said in a
post-race interview.
"Today I had trust and faith in what we were trying to do. I was dropped by quite a bit on the big mountain, but the guys stuck with me and brought me back. I think today is one of the best days I’ve had on the bike. In the final I knew I had to do my own pace on the cobbles as I did the race last year so knew what to expect. When you see the finish line and you’re a sprinter like me, then you don’t feel your legs anymore and just go. I’m so happy to have been able to finish it off.”
It was a collective work that then led Andresen to the final steep climb to the line. Brandon McNulty launched the first acceleration but he and several others blew up in the dash to the line. Andresen timed his effort perfectly and came through to take the stage win ahead of Edoardo Zambanini.
Team DS Luke Roberts was equally happy with the team's triumph in Croatia. “We knew it was going to be a challenge to get Tobi over the climb today. He was sitting in a good position in fifth on GC, but we expected a few teams and riders to really push on up the mountain. Yet, we knew if we could get him over it and into the first group then we had a good shot at the stage result. So, we made the plan to drop guys back with him on the climb, pace the climb at his tempo and get him to the top as fast as we could."
"We had Warren [Barguil] covering the guys who pushed on at the front, so we were always represented there, which was also good for us, but our goal was to get Tobi back. All the guys did a fantastic job, I don’t want to name names as everyone really chipped in for this one and that makes it all the more special. They brought him back to the front, put him in the place he needed to be for the sprint, and he did an awesome job to finish it off. That win feels incredible, teamwork like that feels fantastic so we are all pretty happy here.”
