After a nearly perfect lead out from my team today, only some 50 meters were missing for the win. Unfortunately I had to go very early into the wind, which came slanting from the front. But I had to open the sprint, otherwise they would have all caught me and I would have been boxed in. So I would rather try for it and lose at the front than to finish as 20th. Viviani used the situation well and used the slipstream until the last minute. Today I was like his lead-out man. And with my stature, I was like a truck for him. Nevertheless, congratulations! Every race has to be won, somehow. It just wasn’t enough for me in the final meters, the legs got longer and longer. When his front wheel slowly went by me, I couldn’t react any more.

But my self-confidence is there, I feel good on the bike and am positive again. Sure, I would have liked to repay the team and the guys for their work with a win. But tomorrow is the next chance. We will see how it goes. The last two days were hard for all of us. Yesterday I had the highest watt ratings in a race this year. So off to something new!

Photos: roth-foto.de