Van Eetvelt wanted to follow Roglic and Ayuso during ‘drag race,’ but sabotaged himself: "I was just stupid"

The story in the Tour of Catalonia on Thursday was much the same as on Wednesday: Primoz Roglic and Juan Ayuso turned it into a fierce duel, while the outsiders behind them fought for the remaining podium spots. In the second group, which finished three seconds behind the leading duo, not everyone was satisfied with how the race unfolded—some had hoped for more on the tough final climb.

Lennert Van Eetvelt, in particular, was disappointed afterward. The Belgian rider from Lotto came to Spain with sky-high ambitions but admitted he messed up. "The pace was pretty high from the bottom of the climb, and I was feeling pretty good. But I was just stupid," he told Cycling Pro. "I think much more was possible." The 23-year-old climber nearly bridged the gap from the chase group to the two leaders, but ended up finishing seventh in the sprint.

He had already finished fifth on Wednesday, so he now sits sixth in the general classification, 27 seconds behind leader Roglic (and Ayuso, who shares the same time). But Van Eetvelt believes he could have done much better. He sabotaged himself in the finale. "I was way too far back when the attacks started… but yeah. That’s racing," he concluded bluntly.

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Roglic did manage to win from Ayuso this time!

Martinez: "You don’t want to go all-in only to get countered"

In fourth place, Lenny Martinez was once again among the strongest. The young Frenchman from Bahrain Victorious noted that the wind played a major role—something that isn’t exactly his strength. "It was a tough day, especially with the crosswinds. The peloton was really stretched out and it was quite hard. On the final climb, they really made it difficult. I think I finished fourth again. I got a bit blocked by Enric Mas in the corner, which kept me from jumping into third."

The 21-year-old pocket climber briefly had hopes of more when Van Eetvelt brought him right up to the two leaders. But he remained realistic. "We were almost back, but during the race it's just hard. We’re all on the limit, and you don’t want to go all-in just to get countered. It’s tactical too—we’re all right on the edge."

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Winning—like he did earlier this month in Paris-Nice—wasn’t in the cards for Martinez this time.

Riccitello could only hang on: "Maybe it was tactical for Roglic and Ayuso"

Three seconds behind Martinez and Van Eetvelt, Matthew Riccitello crossed the line. The young American wasn’t at his best in the UAE Tour, but in the Tour of Catalonia, he’s showing a much higher level. While Van Eetvelt and Martinez still hoped for more, that wasn’t realistic for the climber from Israel - Premier Tech. "It was full gas from bottom to top. It was really tough, so I just tried to hang on—there wasn’t much more I could do. Maybe it was a tactical battle between Roglic and Ayuso, but for the rest of us, it was just a drag race."

Even when the second group nearly caught up with Roglic and Ayuso, the small rider from Tucson knew it would be tough. "It almost came back together. They looked at each other a bit, and the group behind started to close in, but I was just a bit too far back, so I don’t know exactly what happened after that." Riccitello eventually finished eighth, six seconds behind stage winner Roglic, and has now moved up to seventh overall in the general classification.

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