Woods on Cote de La Redoute
Mike Woods vowed to race with guts and he did after his fifth-place finish in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Four days ago he finished fourth in Fleche Wallonne and blamed himself for not being more aggressive when it counted.
He launched his attack on the next-to-last climb and left six riders in the last 10 km to the finish and Pogacar was able to power past Alaphippe over the finish line. Woods will next ride Tour de Romandie this upcoming Tuesday.
"I'm really proud of how I raced. Unfortunately, I came fifth, but I wanted to win, and I raced to win. But I just didn't position as well as I could in the last sprint. When you race to win you can't be too disappointed. It was a good day. My goal was to race with guts, and I feel like I did, and the team rode really well behind me.
In retrospect, maybe I should have started the sprint from behind just because of the headwind. But, otherwise, I was really proud of how I raced. I was aggressive, I attacked, and I raced with heart... that's how I wanted to race and that's the way to race."
-Mike Woods. 5th place.
"I'm super proud of the way the team raced. We're a force to be reckoned with. I think we raced a perfect race today. The results will come. I have no doubt we will win some races, and most importantly, the other teams know it. We are just getting started."
-Sylvan Adams, Israel Start-Up co-owner.
"We had a good game plan with the team, we ran well all day and we can be proud. Of course he was hoping for better, but Mike Woods didn't have to be shy about his performance. He was the one who made the difference with his attack in La Roche-aux-Faucons. Then it's always tricky in the sprint after such a difficult race.
I protected the guys all the way to Col du Rosier, then I was a little bit on edge. I drove to the Cote de la Redoute and decided to stop."
-Guillaume Boivin
"I am very happy to be on the podium with great champions like Tadej Pogacar and Julian Alaphilippe. I came here to do better than my sixth place (in 2019). I noticed in the Fleche Wallonne that my legs were good. It was a very difficult day. I only followed at Roche-aux-Faucons, but that was difficult enough. I went all in and knew it was all or nothing there.
Valverde went a long way and I got closer and closer... But when I saw that I was going to ride on the podium, I got cramps. Liege-Bastogne-Liege is the most beautiful classic in my opinion. I hope I can come bace here to win."
-David Gaudu. 3rd place.
2021 Liege Bastogne Liege results
"The goal for us is a stage win and if we can get a good spot in the GC as well, it would be perfect. We have some strong time trialists lining up so we aim for a good result in the prologue already. Woods has shown that he's in really good shape at the moment and he will be our man for the general classification."
-Rik Verbrugghe. DS
75th Tour de Romandie Start List
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