> "We want to build up a deficit, but not too much, so Felix can get back into the GC with an attack in the mountains," his teammate Oliver Naesen explained to Sporza. "That was the plan, and it looks good."
> Consciously losing time, only to gain time again. It's remarkable to say the least, but Naesen explains why this isn't such a crazy idea at all. "As a GC rider, you can stay defensively with the group, but then you'll lose a minute every day and you won't have any freedom."
> "On the other hand, Felix isn't technically inclined. In a echelon, you won't be riding with him in the top thirty. We knew we would lose time, and we wanted to embrace that without stress. That way, you don't arrive at the first climbs with a backpack full of disappointments. Last year, Ben O'Connor finished second in the Vuelta that way. If you don't have a superman, that's the most sensible tactic. The GC is less of an obsession than a stage win."
big brain