The U23 Team walked away from the Ronde de l'Isard with three top 5 stage finishes and a ninth place in the General Classification. On paper, it is no outstanding performance. But Head of Development Boris Zimine is happy with the way the riders rode as a team.
"It was a great week. The team was super young and learned a lot with Arnaud (Tendon) as a captain. He did a great job in that role."
Robin Donzé was the leader of the Team. Great climber and strong off a good first performance in the pro peloton at Giro d'Abruzzo with the Pro Team, the Swiss rider was given the chance to race for the GC with a full team behind him.
Ronde de l'Isard is known as one of the most challenging stage races for the U23 category: five stages, a lot of altitude meters and a great start list.
"We started well with Juan David (Sierra) taking second and Arnaud taking third places in the first stage," explained Boris.
"We raced smart in stages two and three. Team Visma Lease A Bike - Development and Lotto DSTNY DT were the strongest but we did well, sometimes controlling the race, sometimes attacking. We were very active."
Team Visma Lease A Bike - Development lost two riders due to sickness and the team took advantage of the situation to place Robin in the best situation possible in the second last stage. "We rode strong at the front of the peloton so a lot of riders lost ground in one of the climbs. Robin became virtual leader. We should have played it calm but he got too excited and attacked too early in the last climb. He didn't recover and had to settle for fourth place of the day and second in GC."
Unfortunately, Robin got sick ahead of the last stage and could not defend his GC position despite a great work from the team. "They all waited for him and brought him home. It was heartbreaking but also beautiful to see."
Robin eventually finished 9th of the race. But Boris keeps good memories of the race and believes that the riders will remember it for a very long time: "It's in the defeats that you weld a group together. Seeing them all determined to bring Robin back was amazing. The group experienced something and I am convinced that they can do it again in the future. All in all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I strongly believe in that."
Photo Credit: Florian Frison