'Too much' - Tao Geoghegan Hart hits out at Tour of the Alps stage design as Felix Gall crashes
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Updated 18/04/2023 at 15:35 GMT
Tao Geoghegan Hart won the second stage of the Tour of the Alps on Tuesday as he extended his lead at the top of the general classification after help from his Ineos Grenadiers team-mates. However despite the victory, he was more concerned with a finale that saw his rival Felix Gall crash out in a twisting and tight section which he thought posed a hazard.
'All the chaos!' - Geoghegan Hart makes it two from two as Gall crashes in finale
Tao Geoghegan Hart hit out at the design of the stage on Tuesday at the Tour of the Alps after taking the win but seeing Felix Gall crash out.
The British Ineos rider claimed his second stage win of the season, powering through in a sprint finish over the last few hundred metres, and retaining his spot at the top of the general classification.
Despite a good day at the office, Geoghegan Hart was seen banging his handlebars and after the race he explained his frustration, given AG2R Citroen’s Gall had crashed, and Hart believed that the situation could have been much worse in wet conditions.
Geoghegan Hart held off challenges from Bahrain Victorious’ Jack Haig and Santiago Buitrago, but was not critical of their efforts in a twisting finale.
He explained: “If the winner of the race pedals maybe 80 metres in the last 300, I’m not sure that’s typical for a bike race to be honest.
“For me it wasn’t really the correct last 300 metres. I didn’t really want to say that to be honest, but at the end of the day there’s also not many people that are prepared to put their head out there… To see Felix Gall crash there in that corner just to try and make a normal sprint was a bit on the limit.”
“I really like this race, I really like the organiser but I wasn’t really a fan of that final. If it had been wet on that concrete last 300, I don’t know, for me it was too much.”
Discussing the other riders’ efforts, he continued: “I don’t want to see any colleagues in this race crash. A lot of guys are preparing for their coming big goals, and also this is a really nice race… We could have also finished on the other lovely road, it’s a beautiful day.
"I understand doing something different, but it needs to be in the right way. For me, it was a little bit too much today.
“We knew the roads from past editions of this race. There was a bit of a headwind on the Brenner pass… We just rode our tempo on the final climb as we were pretty happy to try to have as many of us as possible on the final climb.
“In the end Thymen [Arensman] did a really great pull, and then Laurens [De Plus]. Then as you’ve seen Pavel [Sivakov] did a really great job in those last few kilometres also.”
Tomorrow’s stage three’s concludes at Brentonico San Valentino, the Briton betrayed a little optimism.
“I told my girlfriend last night on FaceTime that it was an easy stage today, and then I checked the parcours and it was not looking so easy to be honest,” he continued.
“I don’t like to look too much in the future, but I think it will be a really different effort... I think it’s really important these next three days for testing the condition for the future. We’ll take each day as it comes, we’re in a privileged position to have myself and Pavel [Sivakov] in the front, and a super strong team.”
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