Adam de Vos impresses with fourth at Classic Loire Atlantique
'The Sneaky Fox' sprints to strong result in France despite leg cramping in the finale
Rally-UHC Cycling has landed a top result in the 183-km Classic Loire Atlantique. Victoria-native Adam de Vos sprinted to fourth place overcoming leg cramps to post a strong finish in the French UCI 1.1 race that is part of France’s Road Cycling Cup. The American Pro Continental team arrived in France on Wednesday to kick off the second European campaign of their 2019 season.
De Vos leaned on teammate Robin Carpenter to help in chase across to the lead group of riders that included eventual race winner Rudy Barbier of Israel Cycling Academy, second place Marc Sarreau of Groupama-FDJ and third place Rory Townsend of Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes.
“Robin was instrumental today but I have the entire team to thank for this result,” said De Vos. “Two km from the finish, a strong break had a 15-second gap and Robin made an effort to string out the group. I launched off that to make contact at one km to go.”
The team almost lost a chance of a result with 60-km to race. To make matter more complicated, de Vos began to cramp.
“I’m usually not too prone to cramping but with 60 km to go, I started to feel it,” said De Vos. “Eventually, I was full on cramping in both my hamstrings. At one point, I had to unclip to straighten my leg out and lost position in the final lap. Thankfully, I managed to stay in the front group.”
On Sunday the team raced Cholet – Pays de la Loire. In April, Rally-UHC have the Giro di Sicilia, Route Adélie de Vitré, Paris-Camembert, Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey, La Flèche Wallonne and finally the Tour de Yorkshire before heading back to North American for the Amgen Tour of California.
