After four seasons with Visma | Lease a Bike, Gloag made a step into unknown by joining a new team, however not as much as it would seem since he was familiar with many of his new teammates:
“I knew Tom [Pidcock] from Trinity in 2020, and Fred [Wright] I grew up riding with in London, and actually, like Joe [Pidcock], Mark [Donovan] I also knew as well, so yeah, the switch has been pretty seamless, and it’s really nice,” said Gloag. “We’ve got a really nice group of guys also here as well, really good talk around the dinner table and yeah, a super relaxed atmosphere.”
Unpredictable first days of the season
Prior to Algarve, Gloag voiced that the second stage could very well fit his nature, and that was supported by his performance on the day as the Brit arrived 10th, in a group of Kévin Vauquelin and Florian Lipowitz among others at 29 seconds from stage winner Paul Seixas. A lovely result for Gloag for whom it’s a reassurement of his talent after years of health struggles.
“Always with the first few races, you never quite know what’s going to happen, and it’s a super high level here. So it will be a tough week and competitive, but we will give it a go.”
Tenth overall, Gloag will be among the last on the starting ramp during Friday’s individual time trial on a 20-kilometer course. The general classification will be inevitably shaken up, but Gloag hopes to remain in a good position with Alto de Malhao on Sunday in mind.