Bryan Coquard: "I knew Van der Poel wasn't unbeatable"

August 16 ^th 2019 - 18:34

“Mathieu van der Poel is very very strong but I never thought he was unbeatable. I was sure that I could beat him if I was on a good day and in a good position for sprinting. It was a very tactical day today. We played a bit with the other teams. Only Stijn Devolder and Patrick Müller worked at the front of the peloton for most of the stage. In the finale, Kevin Reza and Jérémy Lecroq led me out as we kept Quentin Pacher for the overall classification. Kevin was amazing in this role. I positioned myself in the wheel of Christophe Laporte and I managed to pass him. I’m very happy. We came to the Arctic Race of Norway for winning a stage. Yesterday we messed up a bit with only one rider at the front out of 33 but Quentin remains in contention for the GC. The Arctic Race is already a successful one for us after today’s win.”