Vuelta a Espana 2021 - EF Education-Nippo directeur sportif Tom Southam praises team for reaction to Carthy loss

ByIbrahim Mustapha

Published 27/08/2021 at 13:45 GMT

“Our race changed after Hugh went home, They’ve reorganised themselves and got going again." EF Education-Nippo directeur sportif Tom Southam told the Breakaway what the team needed to do to cope with the loss of Hugh Carthy midway through the Vuelta. You can watch La Vuelta live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and Eurosport.co.uk.

EF Education-Nippo directeur sportif Tom Southam has revealed how the team have had to readjust their plans at the Vuelta following Hugh Carthy’s exit from the race.

Despite being a potential GC hopeful, Carthy abandoned La Vuelta midway through Stage 7, forcing the team to rethink their approach.

Switching their focus to wins, the team has reaped the benefits having seen an in-form Magnus Cort take Stage 12 a day after narrowly missing out on Stage 11.

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“Our race changed after Hugh went home,” said Southam on The Breakaway. “They’ve reorganised themselves and got going again.

“Magnus has led the way with that.”

• Opinion: Carthy’s absence is Cort’s gain as EF strike again in Spain
• 'He’s found his race' - Cort's Stage 12 victory signals more to come from all-rounder

Carthy, who finished third at La Vuelta in 2020, was looking for a similar performance this time around but struggled to replicate his performance of twelve months prior.

After losing almost three minutes to the GC contenders on Stage 6, the Briton’s race was run the following day after pulling up on the first climb.

Southam admitted the loss was a blow but praised the EF riders for being able to adjust to the changes.

He added: “It’s really hard. We’ve been in situations like that before where that’s happened.

'A man who will not be ground down' - Magnus Cort storms to Stage 12 victory

“You tell a bunch of riders who are effectively to help someone, they then have to go and do a different job which is winning.

So there’s pressure on them one way, then someone goes home and there’s pressure on them again.

“To do what they’ve been doing is really fantastic.

"The teams is around Magnus, you saw the job Jens [Keukeleire] did which was superb."

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