The end of this year’s Eneco Tour is getting closer. Today’s parcours was a 177 km long mini edition of Amstel Gold Race including Cauberg and Eyserbosweg, but unfortunately the stage was scarred by a bunch crash causing the leading rider to abandon the race prematurely. Luckily, Brian Vandborg avoided getting involved. He crossed the finishing line with the remaining part of the peloton that had been reduced due to the crash and the demanding parcours, and the Danish rider can now look forward to the final time trial tomorrow.
”Luckily I could steer clear of the crash, into the grass,” he tells. ”I didn’t feel super today, kind of medium, but I guess I was not the only one feeling that way,” he adds explaining that it has been six days of high speed action. He didn’t see himself what happened when Nick Nuyens crashed. ”I heard that Nuyens took a ride on the back wheel of one of his team mates.”
Tomorrow, a 29,6 km TT on a technically difficult route lies ahead. ”It is very technical. There are 32 curves, and half of them lies within five km, so that must be a curve each 300 meters,” the Danish rider comments, hoping for a rank among the best. ”I hope to be able to make it in the top-10, both on the TT and in the overall … The last part, however, can be difficult to obtain.” His fellow Dane and former team mate, Allan Johansen is not as modest when it comes to the chances of Brian Vandborgs. ”I believe that he can make it in the top-10 in the overall, if he rides up to his best during the TT,” he told www.feltet.dk yesterday.
And Brian Vandborg is definitely going to try his best. All in all he is in good spirits, and the words from the national coach, Lars Bonde Nielsen, about his chances to become one of the three riders to represent Denmark at the World Championships in Stuttgart at the end of the month, provides motivation. “I am still lacking a bit, but that will come before the World’s. You shouldn’t forget that I started not that long ago,” he says.
Generally, he has been satisfied with his performance in the Eneco Tour, and the atmosphere on the team is also fine despite the fact, that they are all heading in different directions. “The spirit is still fine. I think that everybody simply enjoys racing together these last races, and besides, we are seeing each other next year too.”
When Eneco Tour ends tomorrow, he is heading back to Italy for at couple of days, before he returns to Denmark in order to race in Aarhus on September 6th. And from September 9th it is Tour de Pologne and hopefully adding a trip to Stuttgart at the end of the month.