Danish time trial champion loses big time on first mountain stage, will now be used solely as a domestique
Just yesterday, Bjarne Riis predicted that Jakob Fuglsang could play a pivotal role in the Saxo Bank strategy as the team’s joker. If RadioShack or any of the other teams with multiple possibilities sent a rider up the road and gained big time because of an unsure peloton, Fuglsang could be the perfect possibility for Saxo Bank. Fuglsang, a strong time trialist and excellent climber, could theoretically go toe to toe with any of the other secondary threats. At the time, Riis cited Kloden, Leipheimer, and Horner as possibilities from the RadioShack team.
Unfortunately, Riis’s plan fell apart before it ever had a chance to get off the ground. The Danish time trial champion suffered mightily on the first stage in the mountains and lost a large chunk of time.
Team manager, Bjarne Riis, shrugged his shoulders at the development: “Now Jakob cannot serve as a tactical weapon anymore. He will just be a domestique. Jakob was not on a good day. He had a hard time in the heat on the first day of the mountains, and he lack a little experience.”
The loss of Fuglsang to a bad day was one thing, but in the large finishing groups of the favorites, Schleck only had Chris Anker Sorensen for help. Riis recognized the dearth of support for the new best young rider: “Andy stayed where he was just fine, but of course I had hoped that others could stay with him a little longer.”
Bad day aside, Fuglsang should be one of the riders capable of staying with Schleck the longest on the big mountain stages to come. Along with Sorensen, the two will have to do double duty due to the loss of Frank Schleck a few days ago.
Fuglsang looked back at his tough stage with an objective eye when Politiken.dk spoke with him: “At some level, I am disappointed. My goal was to sit in and help Andy, but fortunately, he didn’t need me too badly.”
On a day that took in three Category 2 ascents, Fuglsang knew he was in trouble on the second climb. “I could feel that I was having problems on the penultimate climb. I had a difficult time today. The legs would not cooperate.”
After getting dropped, Fuglsang wisely dropped anchor and rode in easily. He lost 11 minutes, but knows that “There is a new day tomorrow.”
Fuglsang also realizes the last effect his jours sans could have on the team’s strategy, but knows that there could be other possibilities as well: “Tactically, I am no longer an option, unless I can get into a break that gains a lot of time.”