Hovering five seconds off the race lead, Christophe Le Mevel remains focussed on trying to take the Maglia Rosa in the Giro d’Italia. The French Garmin-Cervélo rider was tenth on today’s stage to Montevergine di Mercogliano, crossing the line just behind Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard) and remains fourth overall.
Speaking to VeloNation prior to the start, he said that grabbing the race lead would be a goal for him in the days ahead.
“I am just five seconds behind now. If I feel good, if my body is good and I have good power, I would like to take it. Every day I am top ten, I am like a sniper with the pink jersey. Maybe today is the day and I will take it.”
Le Mevel was asked if he considered himself normally better on uphill finishes than race leader Pieter Weening. “It depends. Normally, I think yes, but when you have the pink jersey, you are more strong. We will see after this stage what has happened,”
As things turned out, 26 riders hit the finish line in the same time. The final climb simply wasn’t selective enough to create differences, and so the Giro continues another day without a change at the top.
Tomorrow’s stage is mainly flat and it will be difficult for the Frenchman to get the five seconds back; instead, the next reshuffling is likely to happy on Mount Etna on Sunday.
There are proven Grand Tour climbers waiting behind him and these will make their own push for the Maglia Rosa. Whether or not he gets it, he knows what he wants to achieve over the three week race.
“I would like to get a top ten finish. It’s my first [main] objective in the Giro,” he said. “Now I have a lot of pressure on me because I am looking at the pink jersey. Maybe I won’t focus like that, and I focus on the classification general. It is a race, and I will take everything I can take.”