Pieter Serry talks about what was one of the worst grand tours he experienced: "The news of Evenepoel's resignation came in like a hammer blow"

Pieter Serry has already ridden fifteen Grand Tours in his career and has therefore suffered a bit in his career. However, the experienced Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step has no doubts: the past Giro d'Italia was the toughest grand tour of his career.

“The news of Evenepoel's resignation came in like a hammer blow,” Serry told Het Laatste Nieuws. “Remco had just won the second time trial, after nine days we had regained the leader's pink jersey. We had to reset the spirits. We were able to go for a stage win ourselves and everyone had new motivation. But then came Tuesday, the weather conditions were hellish. And we lost another four teammates to COVID-19. There were three of us then.”

And then there was the bad weather. “I suffered very hard two rides. I had to stop on the side of the road to ask people to help put my gloves on. I started hyperventilating, I feared I wouldn't make it. We went to 2,000 meters altitude at certain times, where it was only two degrees. And then we had to descend twenty kilometers, with bare legs. I almost shivered from my bike, I have rarely been so cold.”

However, the word give up was not in his dictionary. The Belgian persevered and found support within his teammate Van Wilder. “We had worked very hard for the Giro. We didn't want to just throw it in the trash. Ilan and I found a lot of support in each other. We took turns pulling each other through the bad moments. It was fantastic that we made it to Rome and that Ilan finished twelfth with a two-man team.”