00:02You are watching highlights of the fourth and final stage of this year's Giro d'Abruzzo and the
00:10Queen stage coming last as well. The longest stage and also the hilliest as well but one which is
00:15tricky to work out because it's tough in the middle as they go over the Monte della Laga
00:21mountain range in the shadow of the Gran Sasso and then the finishing circuit very tough with
00:27a wall-like climb to the top of Colonela. The riders knew what they had to come. The blue
00:32jersey was worn by Emanuele Anzalone. White jersey on that occasion as you can see there
00:39being worn by Matis Rondel and Alessandro Fancellu there in the race leader's bluey green jersey
00:44after his stage win on stage one at Catalin Contrada. Still in the lead but tiny gaps. Just
00:51eight seconds back to Lennart Jaskin second and Matis Rondel ten seconds down. We had a breakaway
00:57of five riders on the day including two riders who were right up on GC. Best place to them
01:01Andriy Ponomar the Ukrainian rider for General Stor. Josh Golica also quite high on GC and although
01:09they got a big gap it did mean the chasing was pretty important and it started to come down once
01:15they left the central Apennines heading back to the coastal route and the finishing circuit as well the
01:21chase was on. It became evident by the way that Alessandro Fancellu's MBH Bank team maybe had a few
01:28other teams and helpers along the way trying to help them bring it back but sitting in behind Fausto
01:35Masnada who was doing a lot of chasing was Tudor Pro Cycling of course who had second and third on
01:40GC.
01:40They needed to put that man Alessandro Fancellu under pressure and where better to do that than on the first
01:47ascent of Colonela. Coming into that circuit the gap was coming right down the catch of our five riders
01:53out front looked much more likely. There was a nasty incident for one of the Vorarlberg riders who
02:00thankfully missed that post on the descent as well. Beautiful warm day again not quite as sunny as it had
02:07been but this is how things lit up. Diego Illisi one of a number of XTS Astana riders attacking the
02:14last of them to do so on the actual wall-like ascent of Colonela was Nicola Conchi the Italian
02:22and nobody could really react when Conchi went he went over the top taking with him Kevin Voekeland
02:29and Matisse Rondel. It was Rondel who reacted first and then Voekeland going with him and those three
02:36only a slender lead going over the top of Colonela but they gradually started to squeeze it on. They
02:42would definitely help though by the much reduced peloton which we'll call group two attacking each
02:48other looking at each other waiting for others to do their bit. As they came to the line with a
02:53full 30
02:54kilometers to go Matisse Rondel led across. The gap did start to get smaller too but look at this
03:00constant attacks jumping clear of the remnants of the peloton that became group two and that wasn't
03:07helping because all the eases in between the attacking meant that our three riders out front
03:11just kept adding. It was never much more than a minute though it always looked bridgeable. Alessandro
03:16Francello in the race leader's jersey was pulling all sorts of faces he tried to go with the leading
03:20three when they went on Colonela but just could not quite manage it and appeared to fold a little bit
03:27afterwards as well. He rallied well. This was the second time up Colonela all three of the riders
03:32in the break had a go at trying to distance each other. They kind of had to there because it
03:36was
03:37only ever about six or so seconds between the three of them. Things were so close and it wasn't
03:42just enough particularly for the likes of Nicola Conchi to try and win the stage. He also needed a gap
03:48to try and win the general classification if he could. Don't forget best placed in here Matisse Rondel
03:54who'd started the day in third. He was the first to attack. Kevin Vocalan finishing in a big gear as
04:00well right on his wheel. Nicola Conchi being just about distance and the peloton coming in behind.
04:05This was the finish in Contra Guerrera and it was that man Kevin Vocalan from the team who have come
04:12and not got anything out of this race so far. Winning the final stage and the general classification
04:17and look at that Dorian Godon coming in for four two on the day. What a ride by Net Company
04:24Ineos who
04:25were teasing at getting something out of this race and hadn't managed to do it. It all came good on
04:30the
04:30final day. Kevin Vocalan winning the stage ahead of Matisse Rondel in a great day for the French riders as
04:37well. His first professional victory by the way for Net Company Ineos having moved at the beginning of this
04:42season and he wins the GC as well so two wins in a day make it his 11th and 12th
04:47professional victories.
04:49Kevin Vocalan a happy man. Dorian Godon likewise another happy Frenchman there leading the points
04:54classification after his fourth place finish on the day. He won Ciclamino. Climbers standings were won
05:01by Emanuele Anceloni. The only man who could have beaten him on the final day was Filippo D'Auto and
05:06even he didn't try that one after his stage win yesterday. Best young rider in the end was taken
05:12over by Kevin Vocalan who's still young enough to be in that under 25s category and the white jersey.
05:18Best team overall was XDS Astana and they certainly lived up to that billing today. That was it the
05:23final stage of this year's Giro de Bruzzo. Kevin it's been a while how does it feel to be a
05:29winner again?
05:29Oh it's really good. I have a really bad moment in the few weeks before and to win now it's
05:40just a
05:43liberation. I don't know if this is written in English but wow yeah a lot of things happening in
05:49my head now but I'm really happy. We have a strong team. A few days we are close to to
05:56win and today we
05:59we win and win just GC. Yeah it's good and to cross the line in first it's a it's an
06:05incredible emotion.
06:06How did you build this victory? Firstly going away over 30 kilometers to go and then the last sprint?
06:13Yeah an idea just today just a feeling about the legs because today is really bad but today I feel
06:20really good. I say to the team okay just be careful and follow the good move and I just follow
06:25a big move
06:25and at the top we are three with Conchi and Rondelle and I say okay it's still far to the
06:33to the final line but
06:35I don't have a lot of riders who can catch the gap and after just yeah do well because we
06:45are three with the
06:47same level with what we see in the in the climb and now I just in confidence of my sprint
06:54and that's it.
06:56Is that the best restart for a great end of the season? Yeah yeah yeah a lot of questions before
07:04this race
07:05it's really hard to know but now I think it's really positive and it's good for for the next win
07:13weeks
07:14and next uh next goals. Thank you. Two jerseys the overall win and the best young rider is it a
07:21way to
07:22remind people that you are still a young rider with a great future? Yeah yeah no now I have two
07:28two jersey like the young rider is my last year about this jersey and I'm really happy to to have
07:35this one
07:35and to take the GC. People are used to see you winning in France actually your stage of the Tour
07:42de France
07:43was in Italy. Does this Giro d'Abruzzo give you the desire to perform again in Italy? Which race?
07:50Lombardia? Giro d'Italia? No yeah for sure I really like the road in Italy. Sometimes it's
07:57it's really hard like in Abruzzo it's like up and down every time and I really like the race in
08:04Italy and I
08:05think in the future I want to do the Giro d'Italia and yeah I think it's a good perspective.
08:12What is your next
08:13goal after this? I hope it's European Championship and after I don't know for the moment because when I come
08:21to
08:22this race I don't know what is my photo because the sensation is not really here and now I have
08:28more answer I just want to work good and I hope in two weeks I'm really good. A bientôt. A
08:34bientôt.
08:35Please take us back to 300 meters to go when you have decided to attack. Yeah on the bottom of
08:44the climb I
08:45heard in the radio that we had around 40 to 50 seconds so it was quite a good margin but
08:51yeah at
08:52500 meters to go I saw that the bunch was quite close. I knew I was not the best for
08:57the spring but
08:58I knew also that I had to take at least 10 seconds on the on the bench to finish ahead
09:03of
09:03Francilou because it was sure he was in. So yeah I had to launch quite early to keep a gap
09:09on the on
09:10the bench and try to make at least to win the stage to be ahead of Kevin Vauclin but yeah
09:16it was not the
09:17case so I tried the best with the situation and unfortunately it's only second on the stage and
09:23the GC but yeah it was a solid stage and yeah I tried the best today. You don't like to
09:29be second but
09:31you see the pedigree of the winner Tour de France stage winner second in the Fleche Wallonne.
09:37Yeah yeah it's not a shame but yeah I'm a bit disappointed of course because I wanted to I
09:43mean I came here to win and it's second again like the first stage and still second on the GC
09:49so yeah
09:49it's it's like that but it's not a big issue I know the the shape is quite good I have
09:55still few
09:55races till the end of the season so I will try to yeah to keep the shape and yeah to
10:00give the best to
10:01to win before the end of the season. Thank you. There were two teams Ned Company and Tudor with two
10:08cards to place. Have you been surprised that it was Astana firing the race? No honestly we expect
10:16some battles from the from the first lap in the circuit and Astana attacked first and
10:23uh yeah I just didn't have the legs to to follow Boclean and Conchi and in the end I tried
10:31to to say
10:33what was still possible. So at the end third of Il Giro d'Abruzzo does it remain a good result
10:40for you?
10:41No honestly I was here I wanted to win I had the jersey this morning so yeah right now I'm
10:49not super happy
10:50about the third place. But your legs are okay for the end of the season what do you hope for?
10:56Yeah I had
10:58some good legs in the last month today not so not so good I mean I was the strongest the
11:05first day and
11:06today I wasn't but I have still some some good races for uh before the end of the season so
11:14I really want
11:16to do well in the in the last races. Thank you. Thank you. Is this uh what you wanted as
11:22a team even if
11:22personally it's not a win? Ah yeah it's Kevin win it's the same for me uh we are teammates and
11:29uh he deserved
11:30so much after a hard year he was so much for me too uh for the final so yeah we
11:36worked so so much
11:37uh this uh last three weeks today we gambled a bit and uh yeah we let the other team uh
11:44riding and then
11:46uh yeah he was super strong he followed the attack uh on the last uh on the yeah at 40k
11:52to go on the
11:53kicker and then I was I was just behind uh catching all the moves and uh yeah saying uh you
12:00can go you
12:00can go you will win and uh so yeah I'm super happy for him. Maybe you didn't know much about
12:05Giro d'Abruzzo before what does it mean for you to win the points classification here? It's a nice jersey
12:12so yeah no another jersey on uh for me this year so I had a lot of jersey I'm happy
12:18uh with my shape and
12:21not uh not a win for me I was close but I know the the shape is good and uh
12:26I just need to be
12:27passion like Kevin uh it would happen soon so yeah I'm just happy uh for Kevin and uh and that
12:34it
12:34soon where can it happen? Let's see I race tomorrow again I need to recover for super hard but uh
12:41tomorrow I go to Lazio and then uh I have a bit of rest. Merci.
12:47Today is what was the scenario that you wanted? Yes, I knew that I had a good advantage
12:53I was only able to control it to bring home home the legs were a bit stancher but the weight
13:00of this
13:01on the back of my shoulders has helped me until the end and I'm happy to bring it home
13:07until the end. I'm happy to bring it home. You're happy to stay on the podium with the same
13:10ceremony that i corridori come Vaucelan, a champion of the Tour. Yes, they are great champions. I am a bit
13:18for a post but it's an incredible emotion and I'm really happy. You liked this
13:24Giro d'Abruzzo? Do you like to go in this region? Yes, I am Italian so I like Italy. I
13:30have
13:30good landscape, I have not too hard but smooth and so it's been beautiful. Compliments. Thank you very much.
13:42you
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