"The whole day it will be sweating again" - Tension in Quick-Step as team and Patrick Lefevere hope for less crashes at Giro's sixth stage
Cycling
Patrick Lefevere is keen on having a more relaxed day at the Giro d'Italia today, as stage 5 was very damaging for Soudal - Quick-Step. Remco Evenepoel has crashed twice in the day and has suffered a few injuries, and the team look to recollect themselves.
“We will see how it goes, it will certainly not be an easy ride. The whole day it will be sweating again to keep your place in the peloton. Friday is the mountain stage. We have to see how he feels day by day. For the first day of rest. We just have to hope that the damage does not get worse," Lefevere told De Ochtend.
The team manager has been on the side of the road for these past few days seeing his riders first-hand, but he did not have the best of sights yesterday. The World champion crashed early in the day due to a dog running on course and looked to be in trouble at first as he wouldn't get up. Eventually he got back on the bike but then hit the deck once again almost at the finish of the stage.
“I don't want to exaggerate now, but I was on the course before and I thought I was in Colombia. I've seen at least fifteen stray dogs along the streets," he said. "You can experience this kind of situation in southern Italy. That cannot be solved. As a rider you cannot take that into account, but you have to count on the goodwill of the people: the police and the public, that they understand what the danger of a dog can be and that they chase it away.”
“Of course it's not fun when you experience something like that, because Remco was good. Everyone was panicking about the team being bad, but he remained serene and said: 'As long as I don't get into trouble, there's no problem'," Lefevere said on the collective performance on stage 4.
"The team was supposedly absent on Tuesday, yesterday we were really good. We are familiar with the region, because there have been similar crashes here in the past.” Stage 6 into Napoli will see another set of possibly wet and very technical descents where tension will once again be quite high, and the Belgian will have a fight to preserve his second place in the overall classification.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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Soudal Quick-Step Doctor Toon Cruyt talked about @EvenepoelRemco’s condition after the two crashes in which he was involved during stage 5 of the #Giro.
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