Competitions

Matxin reflects satisfied at end of 2010 Tour

Details

Parent Category: Competitions

Category: Tour de France 2010

Published on Sunday, 25 July 2010 19:29

Written by Luca Salvatelli

BRILLIANT FROM FIRST TO LAST

"We have to look in a rather positive way towards what we did in this Tour de France. All riders with no exception took a leading role and some of them showed stronger than initially expected. Rafael Valls has been named by some media as the revelation of this year's race; the organised congratulated us and the general opinion is that we got to show our tireless, combative character. We were into the breakaways, he made it into decisive cuts and always went in the front without losing a bit of sight in the race, despite the Tour debut for all riders. Benítez got into some escapes, Valls’s isn't able to be described into words, Capecchi did well in the mountains, Arrieta claimed a great third and attacked until the very end, Durán was really strong and got used to take into the leading role... I think all of them did way over their expectations and deserved a really high mark for their performance."

DISGRACES AND SATISFACTIONS

"The crash by Cardoso, who was the moral reference for us, was a really big loss; also not having the chance to see Felline into the sprints, as he had come strong into the race; and also Eibegger, who got that fever right from the second day into the race and thus we could not see his real level. We can't forget Mayoz either, because he was in a extraordinary level until he crashed out. After all, I'm very proud of what we did and what we can do now: this was a race that put the team into a really good place, because we showed we didn't come here in loser attitude, instead riding our socks off in the sport's biggest race with legs to be up-front. I have to congratulate the riders for their effort, but also the crowd, the hosts and the journalists since they gave us their full support. It's clear that you 've got to live with good moments and also with the bad ones; the beautiful days go fast, but the bitter ones are very hard to get passed on. For me it's a big pride to have sucha group, because we couldn't have got this success withou it. Now we have to realize where we are, what we need to do so as to go on progressing and making sure our commitment will always be to go forward with young riders you can give confidence to be better than they ever expected to be."

A TDF FULL OF POLEMICS

"The fair-play game into this year's Tour de France gained massive importance, and I was always concerned on that sense: it doesn't sound positive to behave better with your main rival of this year that with last year's teammates. However, I think those polemics made a positive impact to the publicity of the sport: the people got attracted by cycling, the TV audiences were spectacular and could have even been better had Armstrong gone into GC contention. The interest got increased by the race and I think this Tour will have positive side effects for all of us into it."

CLASSIFICATIONS:

Tour de France (GT), Stage 21, Longjumeau - Paris (Champs-Élysées), 102 km.

1. Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Columbia) 2.42.21

2. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese) s.t.

3. Julian Dean (Garmin-Transitions) s.t.

(...)

39. Alberto Benítez (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

131. Eros Capecchi (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

148. Aitor Pérez Arrieta (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

152. Arkaitz Durán (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

153. Rafael Valls (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

Final General Classification.

1. Alberto Contador (Astana) 91.58.48

2. Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) 0.39

3. Denis Menchov (Rabobank) 2.01

(...)

53. Rafael Valls (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 1.42.27

81. Arkaitz Durán (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 2.29.49

82. Aitor Pérez Arrieta (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 2.32.17

83. Eros Capecchi (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 2.34.38

145. Alberto Benítez (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 3.39.12