“I have to be honest, I would have preferred to do Suisse,” Leemreize admits a bit of reluctancy to riding Dauphiné after tough three-week block in Italy. After all, that would have included an extra week of rest. “I’ve had a week of rest now. The first day wasn’t really great, but now I feel somewhat okay again.”
Hit a wall
The strain of riding a Grand Tour has taken its toll on Leemreize who didn’t arrive to Giro in his best shape to begin with. But it was the first stage of Dauphiné – already featuring multiple ascents totalling for 3,200 meters of climbing – which really hit Leemreize like a hangover:
“Some say you should keep busy a bit between the Giro and the Dauphiné. I was really too tired to cycle. I cycled for an hour once and otherwise just rested, so you can’t really… you just feel bad on the first day. That was factored in.”
Gijs Leemreize in a breakaway of 2024 Paris-Nice
And so it happened, as Leemreize made an attempt on Wednesday to jump into the breakaway. That did not work out for the Dutchman, which was a shame because the escapees did get their shot at victory in Montrond-les-Bains.
What’s going on with Picnic?
But how is the situation perceived from within the Dutch team by Leemreize?
“In itself, the atmosphere in the team is actually still good. No pressure is being imposed from the team, but I think everyone feels the pressure themselves. As everyone can see, things aren’t going very well,” Leemreize admits honestly.
“We simply don’t have any results, so you naturally start to feel a bit of pressure. Well, pressure is a strong word, but the desire to show something for once is certainly strong,” he concludes.