Omen after the first mountain stage in Switzerland: ‘I hope I can keep the top ten’
Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 6:48 pm
Sam Omen is eighth in the general classification after the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland. The Jumbo-Visma rider crossed the line 10th on the mountain stage to Leukerbad. “I really gave it all,” it sounded then.
Oomen wasn’t able to follow the top climbers in the final, but he still did a good job in the overall standings. “I wasn’t good enough to compete with the best riders. On the penultimate climb, I exploded a little bit in the last kilometer. I felt accelerating was going to be really tough.”
“Together with Antoine (Tolhoek, editor) I tried to drive with as much control as possible to limit damage when the favorites attack. It’s great to see that after such a long time I can try to ride the ratings again. The team rode their strength today. Not only Antoine in The final, but also the other players towards the penultimate ascent.”
“I couldn’t ask for more of them today. It’s already been a very difficult week that requires a lot of focus. I hope I can keep the top ten and do everything I can to try. It definitely won’t be easy,” said Omen, with Tolhoek ( Eleven at 2:17 from stage winner Carapaz) We saw another Jumbo-Visma rider in the line of fire.
Tolhawk is an employee of Oomen – Photo: Cor Vos
A pleasant surprise
Tolhoek even chose to attack Eschermatt, the penultimate ascent of the day. Athletic director Adi Engels was pleasantly surprised by the performance of his jockeys. “Sam finishing in the top 10 here and eighth in the standings is a fantastic achievement on the field. That’s what we were hoping to see from Sam in this round. Also because we didn’t know where he was on terms.”
“There was also some skepticism after a difficult period for him,” Engels said. “But that’s just beautiful. It’s also confirmation that he’s a good rider. It would be great if we could stick with that. We’ll see how we are at the end of the week.”
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