For three weeks Colombian rider Carlos Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) has been locked in a very tense fight for the best young rider's white jersey with Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) with the jersey passing from one promising youngster to the other.
On the brutally steep slopes of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo Saturday the aggressively Colombian finally managed to establish his superiority over the Pole as stage 20 finished among flurries of snow in the Dolomites.
"The white jersey was my big objective and I got it. I am very happy. I want to thank everybody. It's great when you try as hard as you can and then things work out," he said, while speaking to Rai Sport after recovering from the cold.
When the lead group hit the foot of the final climb, Betancur risked losing the white jersey and fifth place overall after a puncture. After the stage Betancur lashed out at the Saxo-Tinkoff team for allegedly attacking while he was compelled to swap bikes and chase through the team cars.
"Saxo Bank tried to go hard when I punctured, that wasn’t fair at all but I got back to the race and I showed them what I was worth," he said.
"In truth I had a puncture, then my bike was broken, then my bike broke again, then I had to change the whole bike. But when you want to do well, there’s nothing that can stop you. This jersey really gives me a lot of motivation to do well in the future, too."
20.04: EPZ Omloop van Borsele |
17.04 - 21.04: Tour de Tunisie |
18.04 - 21.04: Eroica Juniores |
19.04 - 21.04: EPZ Omloop van Borsele |
20.04 - 21.04: Gipuzkoa Klasika |
21.04: Liège-Bastogne-Liège |
21.04: Giro della Romagna |
21.04: Gent-Wevelgem U23 |
21.04: Gent-Wevelgem Junior |
21.04: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes |
Daan LUIJKX 58 years | today |
Martin ZLAMALIK 42 years | today |
Andrea ROSSI 45 years | today |
Dmitriy RIVE 29 years | today |
Brent MILLER 43 years | today |
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