Comeback rider Kai Reus returned to winning ways on Thursday, but had a very limited time in the leader’s jersey at the Mi Aout en Bretagne race. The Dutch Team De Rijke competitor pulled out early on during yesterday’s stage to Cléguer, with the cold he already mentioned on Thursday getting worse.
“It was fantastic I won Thursday and it surprised me. As I said yesterday, I didn’t feel that good even then. And now not at all,” he said on his blog yesterday evening. “Okay, you could race on with pain but I did not take that risk. I still started but after 25 kilometres I felt that I had nothing. So I abandoned.”
Reus has had several setbacks in his career, including a brain injury in 2007 and glandular fever in 2009/2010. He gave up the sport but then returned to it this June. He plans to ride several UCI 1.1 races later this month and in September, and is working towards getting a bigger contract for next season.
David Belda (Burgos 2016 – Castilla y Leon) won yesterday’s stage, beating Mark McNally (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) and four other breakaway companions to the line. Reus’ team-mate Sjoerd Kouwenhoven finished fourth and took over the race lead. He ended the day 23 seconds clear of McNally.
The race continues today with the penultimate stage, a 170 kilometre race around Poullaouen.