Guillaume Boivin on his second day in the break chasing KOM points
Rues missing the firepower to contest the stage win despite strong tail wind
by Kevin Mackinnon
After another huge day of being out in front during the third stage of the Giro d’Italia in Israel, Israel Cycling Academy’s Guillaume Boivin once again gave his team lots of exposure and Israel lots to cheer about.
“It was fun,” he said after today’s tough stage, one of the longest in Giro history. “That’s the stage I had in mind when we came to Israel, because I know this road from a camp we had here two years ago and it’s always a massive tailwind coming off that downhill with about 50 km to go. So I figured there was a small chance the bunch could miscalculate it, because you can’t ride 100 km an hour – we were riding 70 km an hour in the front – you can only go so fast. That was the one I wanted to be in, but you needed more than three guys. There was still a bit of panic in the pack to try to catch us, but they reeled us back with about 5 km to go.”
Boivin was after the king of the mountains jersey in yesterday’s stage and getting in today’s break offered a chance to go after the jersey again.
“That was kind of part of the plan,” Boivin said. “Bardin was just on my wheel and there was nothing I could do.”
For a short time it looked like Boivin’s breakaway group might stay clear.
“I had a bit of hope in the last 15 km when I saw that we were keeping the gap steady, but I guess we lost one guy and then everybody was starting to be on the limit and the collaboration wasn’t as good as it was with 15 km to go, which is normal because you’re on the limit. We didn’t have the legs to do it to the finish. With a stronger group we could have made it.”
Boivin does feel that the team has managed to prove that they are deserving of their place in the Giro.
“From a breakaway standpoint, I think so,” he said. “I don’t know how we did today in the sprint and in terms of the results. But a day like today, we had a guy up front and the guys from the bunch had to push really hard to bring us back at one point, so it shows the strength of the team we have. Obviously, it wasn’t a winning breakaway and we haven’t won a stage, but we’re in this race as much as any other team and we hoped to do well in Israel.”
