Fourth on stage four, four days into his first Tour de France: it did not take Marco Frigo to make an impact on the Tour de France.
The 26-year-old Italian was in the mix for a first Grand Tour stage victory in Foix on Tuesday after a day-long breakaway.
Frigo and teammate Biniam Girmay were part of a 34-rider group that went clear within 15 kilometers of leaving Carcassonne on another scorching hot day. Eventually that group whittled down to just 10, with Frigo being up against three riders from Lidl- Trek, who took home the victory through Mads Pedersen.
He says: “It is a bit bittersweet. I know I came here with good legs, so I didn’t put a limit on stage results. Today was a good opportunity to grab the win, so it’s good, but not super.
“Chapeau to Lidl – Trek, because they played it super. There was a bit of headwind, so it was not so good to try something. The final two kilometers were downhill and quite fast, too, so it was not possible to get the win with an attack. We did the best we could.
“The Tour is something crazy. The first three stages were super in terms of emotions. Today, to be there and fight for the win, that is a big emotion. Of course, when I was in the race, actually, I didn’t think about it. I just tried to do the best I could, tactically and physically.”
Girmay’s time in the breakaway was significantly shorter than Frigo’s near-170km out front, but it proved successful as he won the day’s intermediate sprint at Quillan (KM93).
He now sits sixth in the green jersey standings on 39 points, with 95 points on offer across Wednesday’s stage, which is expected to be the first bunch sprint of the race.
“It was a good day for us,” says Head DS Sam Bewley. “We’re happy to get a good result in the first few days of the race, and we can take a lot of momentum and confidence from it going forward.
“Marco had a great final of the race. The characteristics of the final weren’t favorable for a late attack, so we had to play for a sprint.
“But getting Bini in the break to get some green jersey points was also good – it’s useful to have those points his pocket going forward.”