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Classic de l'Ardèche Rhône Crussol. Tanel Kangert is 11th
Astana Team rider Tanel Kangert finished 11th in today’s one-day race in France Faun Environnement – Classic de l'Ardèche Rhône Crussol in Guilherand-Granges with a total distance of 200,2 km. In the team’s roster Kangert replaced Nikita Stalnov, who had to remain at home due to an illness.
- I am happy I’ve made the team’s selection for this race, since I like to do one-day races. I felt pretty well today and, I think, it was a good day for me. With around 40 km to go Bardet attacked and went away alone. I made my attack one minute later, but it was impossible to catch Bardet, he was the strongest today. So, I attacked together with Sicard, but we never had too much space. We worked well together, but with 400 meters to the top of the last climb the chasing group caught us. I tried to follow them, but it was so steep and I couldn’t. Anyway, I am happy with this race, - said Tanel Kangert.
The French rider Romain Bardet took a solo victory after his attack in the final part of the race. It was the German Maximilian Schachmann, who finished second, 47 seconds later. A group of 6 riders came to the finish line 56 seconds behind the winner to play the last remained place on the podium: Lilian Calmejane took third in a sprint.
Tanel Kangert was about to catch that group to fight for a podium place, but missed just a few seconds and finished 11th. This is a really good result for Tanel, who just is coming back on racing after a very long break due to his terrible crash at the Giro d’Italia last May.
Also, two more Astana riders, Sergei Chernetskii and Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev finished close to the leaders, placing 14th and 20th at the finish line.
Photo credit: ©Bettiniphoto
