• Cimolai sprints to seventh in Giro
  • Cimo: “I am proud of ISN, this lead out was amazing”
  • Sagiv: “I was happy with this short stage”

If you watched the final of stage 4 in the Giro d’Italia today, you could not have missed us. ISN’s blue and white dominated today’s final kilometers.

Giro d’Italia 2020 – 103th Edition – 4th stage Catania – Villafranca Tirrena 140 km – 06/10/2020 – Rudy Barbier (FRA – Israel Start-Up Nation) – photo Luca Bettini/BettiniPhoto©2020

 

According to one of the forces of the train, Matthias Brändle, bringing Cimo to the front today was one of the best lead-outs he’s done in his life.

“With a guy like Rick Zabel guiding and having the legs to dig deep for such a long time while other teams are trying to pass you, it was big fun. Today ISN showed once more that we can be where we have to be when it comes to a mass sprint.”

As you might have read in the big preview we published a week ago, stage 4 was supposed to be the first day designed for sprinters.

There was one climb to overcome though, halfway into the stage. On the slopes of that hill it was Bora-Hansgrohe who took control of the race, and made our Rudy Barbier drop.

Giro d’Italia 2020 – 103th Edition – 4th stage Catania – Villafranca Tirrena 140 km – 06/10/2020 – Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA – Groupama – FDJ) – Arnaud Demare (FRA – Groupama – FDJ) – photo Tommaso Pelagalli/BettiniPhoto©2020

The French sprinter was not the only one who was left behind. Also, names like Fernando Gaviria, Juan Sebastian Molano and Ben Swift were in his group.

Davide Cimolai did make it over the last climb, as well as a most of our lead-out train. Cimolai’s teammates, Alex Cataford, Matthias Brändle and Rick Zabel in particular, took the lead with confidence in the last three kilometers, making other sprinting teams suffer.

After one last tricky turn, Zabel brought Cimo to a promising position. The Italian was not exactly happy with the sprint itself (ultimately coming in 7th), but did think ISN showed incredible teamwork in the final stretch.

Giro dÕItalia 2020 – 103rd Edition – 4th stage Catania – Villafranca Tirrena 140 km – 06/10/2020 – Davide Cimolai (ITA – Israel Start-Up Nation) – photo Dario Belingheri/BettiniPhoto©2020

“I am so proud of my teammates”, he said. “This was an incredible lead-out. Seventh is not quite the result I hoped for, but I am sure next time I will be better, especially if we keep working so well together.”

Guy Sagiv, who crashed yesterday, came across the finish a few minutes behind the pack. “I definitely suffered more than usual,” the Israeli champion said, “because of the injuries. I feel my body is fighting to heal my wounds, so it was not an easy day for me. I was happy that today’s stage was not that long.”

Pics: Bettini Photos