[Luciano Pagliarini]

The Winner’s Interview with Pavel Sivakov

Congratulations, Pavel. How are you feeling after today’s win?

“I feel tired, but I also feel really happy. It was an amazing day. The guys did a great job and I am really proud of them. I can’t thank them enough.”

You came into this race after two big victories at Ronde de l’Isard and Giro d’Italia U23. Did you expect to be so strong?

“After winning both of those races, I think I am riding at the best level that I ever have. Saying that, I rode 40km alone today which was a really big performance and I can’t believe it.”

Talk us through the final part of the stage.

“Martin Schäppi did a great job on the first category one climb, and then Patrick Müller went full gas on the downhill, and we split the bunch completely and eventually we found ourselves out in front with just me, Steff Cras, Marc Hirschi.”

“When Marc dropped back, I saw that a few GC contenders were coming back on us and I knew that I needed to accelerate and when I did, nobody could follow me. At that point, I knew I just needed to keep going and manage my effort until the end.”

Were you confident coming into today’s stage?

“I came into today feeling really good. At the start of the race, I wanted to improve day by day, and that has been the case. Today, I felt good at the end. It was really hard at the end riding alone in the last valley. At one point, Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto - Soudal U23) was closing the gap slightly, but then at the end, I could gain time.”

And looking ahead to tomorrow.

“Now, I am in a good position, but the race isn’t over. Tomorrow we will have to control the race but I am confident in the guys, and I think we can do it.”

Comunicato stampa BMC Development team