[KMC-Sponsored Riders in 100th Tour de France] Good performance by Westra and De Gendt
Updated : 2013-07-18

Both Vacansoleil-DCM TT specialists in top twenty

“Not bad, but there’ll be better today”, Lieuwe Westra prophetically spoke after setting the fastest time early in the day of the second individual time trial. Although he was in the ‘hot seat’ for a long time, the Dutch TT champion finally ended up with the 17th time, three places better than team mate Thomas De Gendt.

“This was one of the hardest time trials I have ever ridden”, Westra comments on this stage, which could very well be catalogued as a climb time trial. “The strongest, the one who goes uphill the fastest, wins, although a downhill expert can go a long way too.” The Fries chose for a TT bike. “I am a time trial specialist. This choice of bike was the best for me. I didn’t hesitate for a second and I went uphill with it just fine”, he says. “An excellent Westra would finish closer, but I am already further than two weeks ago. I want to show myself in the stages to come. I can feel I’m getting better every day.” Westra is somehow still suffering from the consequences of a hard crash in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Thomas De Gendt’s intermediate times were quite phenomenal, but he wasn’t able to keep up that performance till the finish line in Chorges. “I reached my limits on the second climb”, he admits. “Maybe I took off a bit too fast, and I guess my TT bike would have been an advantage in the last ten km. I had done a recon of the course, and did consider starting with it at some point. Finally I chose for my regular bike. The technical descents were to my disadvantage. I am not 100% happy, but it’s okay. I was hoping for more underway, with the intermediate times being what they were. A time trial is, after all, something I’m quite good at…”

(Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team press release)
(Photo: Cor Vos)