From the Endura Blog:
Movistar Team’s time trial specialists shine in Poland…
Following a deluge into the previous two stages in the Tatra Mountains, including a hellish ride on Saturday with more than 80 abandons, and after crashes – with Fran Ventoso and Andrey Amador retired, but fortunately not seriously hurt – the last day of the 2016 Tour de Pologne brought Movistar Team the taste of victory.
Alex Dowsett took 28:59 to complete the 25km flat TT stage in Kraków – with team-mate Jonathan Castroviejo 22 seconds down in second place – to record the squad’s 31st success of the year, now just five short of their all-time record high of 36 in 1998.
Rubén Fernández also featured prominently for Movistar Team in Poland. The 25-year-old climber fron Murcia jumped two places in the overall classification on the final day, from 8th to 6th, following a smooth TT performance to follow up his 8th place finish in Zakopane on Saturday. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) secured the overall win, with the Belgian following in the steps of 2015 victor Ion Izagirre who is racing the Tour de France.
Alex Dowsett:
I knew it was going to be difficult – the difficult thing for me was actually getting to the stage. Yesterday, unfortunately we didn’t race, but it would have been really tough for me, the day before being just as hard just to make it through.
I got here and looking at who was in the field, there were a couple of guys that could be near me if I had just ‘good’ legs, but I knew I stood a good chance of winning. In the end, the time trial went well for me: legs felt well all the way through, the numbers were good – I’m just happy with how it all went. It’s a big one, especially considering the important community of haemophiliacs here in Poland.
It’s a way to send a message, especially to the young kids, that you can keep on achieving great things even when suffering from it. I just want to thank the team and its sponsors for their support to this victory today.