PIERRE LATOUR
AG 2 R LA MON DIAL E
Awhile back, I had a tattoo put on my wrist, reading, “Never give up”. I hate abandoning races, and I suppose I hate losing as well. Last year I only packed in two races, the Tour de Suisse, when I was really ill on stage seven, and the GP Beghelli at the end of the season. But it also applies to my racing – I like to fight to the line, and not giving up has given me some big wins.
This attitude helped me at the Tour de Romandie, on the summit finish stage in Leysin. We’d gone into Romandie with two of us as leaders – Mathias Frank and me, with Mathias the first leader. During the stage, I hadn’t been feeling good – I had to change a wheel and chase back on the first climb, while Mathias was feeling good. Simon Yates had attacked on the second last climb, so he was ahead, and BMC set a really hard pace at the bottom of the final climb. The change of rhythm put me in trouble, and I was off the back. But I didn’t give up, and got back. By that time, Richie Porte had attacked, so I wasn’t going to see the front again, but I was able to stay in the chasing group, while Mathias started feeling worse. I was seventh on the stage. That, combined with consistent performances through the whole week, was enough to give me 14th overall, and the best young rider’s classification. I was 10th in the first road stage, which Albasini won. That was a good sign, and in spite of the fact that I’d gone very deep at Leysin, I recovered well for the time trial on the last day. I ate a lot because I’d really emptied myself, slept well and had a good recon and warm-up in the morning, then did a decent TT, even though there’s still room for improvement there.
All stage races are different. I felt Romandie wasn’t as hard as Paris-Nice or Catalonia, but it was hard in a different way. The weather was tough in the first few days, but the racing was more controlled – the break only stayed away on one day. The level of the top guys was as high as ever, but the field didn’t feel quite as deep and it didn’t feel quite as fast. Next time, I’ll try to crack the top 10.