Cherie Pridham and our young talent present:
“My three soldiers made me proud”
Israeli Edo Goldstein showed solid progress in Bretagne
Here is the unique story as seen by Cherie herself:
“We came to the Tour of Bretagne with six ICA riders, all with hopes and dreams of having a really good week. We soon found, on stage one, that Israeli sprinter Oded Kogut was very tired after a long season and just struggled, generally, for two days. The same with Jakub Bouček – I think these young guys are finding out just how hard bike racing is, at this level, particularly here in France.
“It’s not an easy race to come to, but we continued with positive vibes, and then, unfortunately, we lost Riley Pickrell in a crash on stage three, with a nasty bang to his head. Of course, we followed the protocol for concussion, so Riley retired and that left us with three soldiers; And so my three soldiers did us proud. We fought every day with a good strategy and a belief that we could come away with a strong result.
“I’m very proud of Edo Goldstein, he was very consistent and ably assisted by Robin Plamondon and Lahav Davidzon. Robin had also crashed in the same crash as Riley and suffered for two days, but on the final stage, we had all the hopes of doing a good ride and the circuits certainly suited us well.
“But again, luck wasn’t on our side: Another crash (Robin) and a mishap (Edo) cost us in the end, but that is part of racing and the boys understand that.
“Edo was our best on GC and all three soldiers certainly finished the race. Maybe not quite as we would have wanted, but it’s all a great lesson in terms of how hard the sport is and the need to take a positive away from every day. I am certain that the kids will grow from this experience.
“I’ve got to add a few words about Israeli Edo Goldstein. It’s the third time I’ve worked with him this year, Rwanda, Portugal and now on Bretagne, and I’ve witnessed him taking it step-by-step – all in the right direction. He finished 11th, 13th and 8th in three of the stages and was solid throughout.
“Edo certainly has the desire and the belief, he just needs to continue to work and be guided in the right direction, and I certainly believe that he will make it to WorldTour. But, of course, he needs to keep progressing and keep calm, and believe in the people that are working behind the scenes with him. For me, it was a great week to see how he managed the disappointments, and also how he dealt with those disappointments and worked on the positive.
“So, we learnt a lot together, this time around, in a very difficult race. I have a lot of admiration for Lahav Davidzon, a rider with a lot of passion and great focus.
“For me, the kids that we have here just need a little bit more work and then we will see a lot from them.”
